LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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SEQUEL 



TO THE 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS 



GENEALOGY OF RELIGIONS 



NOE 

TENTH FROM ADAM, 
3000 B. C. 



Brotherhood and covenant of safety 



HAM 



22?6 B. C. 

Carries to Atrica 

the record of having 

come from the North 




SHEM 



PELEG 

Tlie earth divided 
2256 B. C, 



when nine generations lived 
in peace in one house 

I 

ABRAHAM 

Brotherhood and Covenant 

of Promise 



JAPHETH 



2256 B. C. 

Carries to China 

the counsel Yao gave 

to Shun 



CONFUCIUS 

and 

ancestral worship 



SARAH 

OF 
SHEM 



KETURA 

OF 
JAPHETH 



ISHMAEL ISAAC 



MOSES- 



ZOROASTER 



JESUS 
THE 

KING 



■^4} Christianitv incorporates 
the mythology of all nations 



Protesting Christianity 




World's Parliament 
of Religions 
renews and acknowledges the bond of 
blood and brotherhood. 

I 

IN THE KINGDOM — BROTHERHOOD REALIZED 



SEQUEL 




TO THE 



ARLIAMENT OF 




T.LIGIONS 




BY 



EBEN MALCOLM SUTCLIFFE . WoX 



T/tAJb. "cJU^ Tu 



U)jdJUiA>iSo-^^^''^'iJ2^^ 




CHICAGO 

American Authors' Protective Publishing Company 

1894 



i'""MAV'2;5 1894' , 






Copyright, 1894 

Eben Malcolm Sutcliffe 
All richts reserved 



CONTENTS 

Frontispiece .... 

Dedication . . . .11 

Before ..... 13 

Ad Interim , . . . .39 

After ..... 43 

Appendix . . . . .183 







Dedication 



H, everlasting Truth! permit these pages 
in love and honor thy great cause to plead; 
KFor in thee dwells the sum of human need; 



%^|.^ And zealous seeking in the mists of ages, 
^P Thine ancient landmarks, worthily engages 
The serious mind, which follows but thy lead. 
Desiring of the future true to read, 
And understand whate'er the time presages. 
The voice of prophets, in no tones uncertain, 
Says innocence shall triumph over ill; 
While every age still higher lifts the curtain, 
And light is dawning, as their words fulfill; 
The living fountain from Mount Zion flowing, 
On every nation its rich gifts bestowing. 




Before 



I'ER wild Atlantic's stormy ocean sped 
lA noble ship, which, as she plunged ahead, 
:Cast from her sides the snowy spray, and dashed 
'iJlMl^ The mountain waves back to their source, abashed 
■^^^ At their own vain presumption to defy 
The iron monster, right of way deny 
To proud leviathan with breath of smoke. 
With lungs of fire, whose great heart's mighty 

stroke. 
And thunder voice affright all Neptune's realm. 
But quick obedience yields the gentle helm. 

Epitome of a world, great ship, thou art; 
Alone and isolate, a thing apart, 
As\")lanet is from planet, star from star, 
Unknowable, yet wondering, from afar. 
What others are; of what composed; perchance 
Inhabited. These mysteries but enhance 



14 SEQUEL TO THE 

And solemnize the charm enshrouding each 
Far-distant orb, which scarcely thought can reach. 
Nor can reveal, nor bridge infinite space, 
Through which course worlds and suns, and 
comets race. 

Though world thou art within thyself alone, 
Both carrying joy, and echoing sorrow's moan. 
And life and treasure, yet thou bearest more 
Than grandest ship that sailed e'er carried o'er 
Wide ocean's breast; for, freighted thou with 

hope — 
Hope of a realm of thought, within whose scope 
Are racial questions, theories of life, 
Of destinies of men, of war and strife; 
The old world turning to the new for light, 
The elder questioning the younger's sight 
Into the regions dim where reason gropes. 
Where fancy dallies, first with fears, then hopes. 
The old unto the young come meek to learn. 
Leaving aside its own experience stern. 
And disappointments, weariness, and care. 
To seek if some new source of knowledge rare, 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 15 

Into existence sudden sprung, revealed 

To newer world, what, from the old concealed, 

Had left it far behind; as when before. 

Brave Ponce de Leon sought the new world's 

shore 
To search for youth's far-fabled fountain's stream. 
All ages' fond desire, and poet's dream. 



16 



SEQUEL TO THE 




N this proud ship's high deck there slowly 
paced 

A man, upon whose lineaments time had traced 

Full three-score years. On his low brow up- 
sprung 

Thick eyebrows gray, which shaded and o'er- 
hung 

Dark eyes, deep set, impressing with the thought 

That will, enthroned, here reigned supreme, and 
brought 

All else into subjection. 



His rich dress 
And wrappings, which of Orient birth confess. 
Whose silken sheen, and many colors mixed 
With golden threads, and jewels bright affixed 
Upon his turban, and around it wreathed, 
Add to that natural dignity which breathed 
From eveiy move and gesture as he walked, 
Tall and majestic, while he earnest talked 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 17 

With one far different, though as gay arrayed, 
And Eastern also, as his garb betrayed: 

The first, Phalil Ristabetani named, 

The other, short of stature, rotund, famed 

In his own country for his insight clear 

Into the mysteries deep, and deemed austere, 

Though not by his appearance so approved. 

While his whole bearing not to reverence moved. 

His round fat face, and almost hidden eyes, 
Somewhat obliquely placed, induced surprise. 
When hearing him in serious discourse. 
And noting with what earnestness and force 
He states his points, and holds his vantage 

ground 
With perspicuity, concise, profound. 

He, Tze Lu Yen Mugata, was, by right, 
A mandarin with two swords, who held him quite 
The equal, both in rank and mind, of any, 
And very far superior to the many. 

A common impulse each to other drew 



18 SEQUEL TO THE 

At once; for, on the deck these only two 
Seemed lone in singularity; the rest 
Were ordinary travelers, plainly dressed. 

So they, in conversation grave immersed. 
Passed on absorbed, while each, in turn, rehearsed 
The reason of his journey. First upspoke 
Yen Mugata, who thus the silence broke: 

" I hold commission royal to attend 

A Congress of Religions, and I wend 

My way to far Chicago, vague to me. 

Though of it, and its exposition, we 

Have heard great things. My country, forced at 

last 
To recognize the outer world, has passed 
The barrier of conservatism reared 
Of old, and institutions long endeared 
Are trembling, to destruction doomed, though 

yet 
We love not domination, nor forget 
How, by their thunder, modern guns compelled 
And frighted to submission. We withheld 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 19 

All intercourse, and guarded close our arts; 
But foreign powder so surpassed our darts 
And swords, that we, in self-defense, must turn, 
And from outsiders condescend to learn. 

"As for this Congress of Religions, I 
Perceive no need, nor can I e'en descry 
What end of aim it serves; for, in my land. 
Religion stands not high, nor can command 
Allegiance, save from those who lack in mind. 
And unto women only, is consigned. 

" By accident, discovered in a man. 

Him deem we as effeminate, and scan 

His conduct close, with those who cringe and 

cower, 
Cajole, and fear the dreaded evil power, 
But care not, nor revere the power of good, 
Which overcomes not evil, if it could. 

" But from this Congress 'tis our hope to wrest 
That secret energy by which the West 
Now inundates the East, like mighty flood; 
And, though our rivers all may run with blood, 



20 SEQUEL TO THE 

We cannot stay its progress, nor withstand 
Its law of change, and innovation's hand. 

"This wonderful advance, o'erwhelming all 
Which stood for ages, but now hastes to fall, 
Attributed by them to some benign 
And efficacious influence, called divine, 
Which their religion gives, I come to know; 
For, if from it such might and progress flow, 
I shall report to China what I saw. 
And 'twill no doubt be introduced by law. 

"This is the reason why 1 thus engage 
To take this dangerous journey at my age." 

Phalil Ristabetani then replied: 

"I too, quite unaccustomed, brave the tide. 
The ocean's peril face for learning's sake. 
And to that Congress strange, myself betake. 

" Four hundred years agone (perhaps but one). 
Ere yet so low had sunk the prophet's sun. 
Such Congress had not been proposed to us. 
Or we have even deigned to listen thus. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 21 

When infidels in consultation met 
Idolaters and atheists, nor let 
Such proposition speak, nor contemplate 
To answer, save with speaking sword elate, 
And ready to cast back into their teeth 
Their invitation, deemed so far beneath 
What we hold dignity. 

Time changes things. 
And men, and dynasties. Experience brings 
Less ardor to the blood, and softens hate; 
And, just as men can learn to tolerate 
in later years what to the youth appeared 
Impossible, so nations which upreared. 
When young and vigorous, around the state 
A wall which none should pass, learn but too late 
That no such bounds can stand, nor force sustain. 
Thought will be free to roam, nor will remain 
Chained to Procrustean rule. 

Mahomet's blade, 
While still it flashed and kept the world dismayed, 
Gained empire and conviction. Sheathed, it grew 
Less terrible, less potent. 



22 SEQUEL TO THE 

"Riches, too, 
Were conquered; art and learning flourished, 

nursed. 
And tender reared. Prosperity, accursed, 
Brings ruin unto nations. Now, the pen 
Is mightier far than sword, and we, the men. 
Who made the earth to tremble for our creed, 
Come now to meet and parley, and, indeed, 
As they suppose, inquire what seemeth best. 
And what the world demands. 

"This is our quest. 

"As our fast-waning greatness has decreased. 
Our wild enthusiasm too has ceased; 
Else would we not be represented where 
Such Congress meets, unless 'twere to declare 
Our will with sword and tire. 

But now we seek 
These shores, this conclave, and with accents 

meek 
Discuss this burning question. 

Evidence 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 23 

Of wavering faith, loss of self-confidence, 
Could not be clearer shown; and of what use, 
Feign to conceal that under flag of truce 
The weaker comes, and to the stronger proffers 
The emblem which complete surrender offers?" 

While thus they converse held, a stranger heard. 
In passing, what they said, and, at the word 
"Religious Congress," paused, and quick inquired 
if they too, with punctilious zeal inspired, 
To this world's Congress came to seek for truth; 
if, like himself, they sought to know, forsooth, 
What this world-power, so recent born, could 

give 
Of knowledge new, to teach how best to live. 

They said, 

"We do." 

The other, tall and spare. 
Crowned with a forehead high, and broad, and 

square. 
Above the eyes, which, deep and darkly bright, 
Gleamed kindly gentle, and, if read aright, . 
They but to intellect and reason's reign 



24 SEQUEL TO THE 

Obedience yield. 

His dress was dark and plain, 
While to his form a stately turban lent 
More grandeur, and bespoke the Orient. 

Said he, in accent grave, serene, polite: 

"Arjuna Samadura I am hight, 
And with a mission to this Congress sent 
By Southern Buddhists, there to represent 
That ancient faith revered, which all concede 
5. c. ^jc^ Pataliputra's Council wise decreed. 

When ruled the emperor, surnamed The Great, 
Asoka, far renowned, o'er that famed state 
By noble Ganges watered. 

Deem you strange 
That we, who claim our reason free can range 
Through time and space; that e'en eternity 
From mind and thought can guard no mysteiy; 
That good, which never overcomes nor ends; 
That evil, which with it for aye contends; 
That Path, which man through brute shall ever 
scale; 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 25 

That Way, in which, the end attained, all hail 
NiiA/ana! Land of Silence — Saddest Bliss — 
Which is our only hope on leaving this? 

"1 also, who, as in the Path, should feel 
Naught but self-abnegation, can conceal 
Not from myself, that in me stirs the pride 
Of ancestry, a thousand years beside 
Old Ganges dwelling honored. 

I may plead — 
What is so clear that he who runs may read — 
That in my country, where this faith has reigned 
Through twenty centuries and two, retained 
Unhindered empire, yet, by gentleness, 
Are men not in their nature changed, unless 
We base conclusions on the few who dare 
Attempt reform. The many have no care 
Beyond today. 

So, in this newer land, 
Where progress rushes, we may understand 
Some primal cause to us as yet refused 
By reason. 

But why nations quite unused 



26 SEQUEL TO THE 

To reason's ways, by virtue of their youtli 
Should be first favored to discover truth, 
I know not. 

" This I cross the sea to solve, 
And law from this strange order to evolve." 

Yen Mugata then took the word, and said, 
As slow they walked with that uncertain tread 
Which landsmen use at sea: 

"I must allow. 
My country, too, accustomed long to bow 
Before Confucius' wisdom, has not gained 
In prestige 'mong the nations, nor maintained . 
What e'en was hers from days of old, although 
Her art ranks high, and wisely we bestow 
Care and discrimination to preserve 
it, and improve 

But 'twill no purpose seive, 
Nor worthy would I deem me, were 1 blind 
To reason; and, like you, I do not find 
That, since Confucius taught them, men hav 
changed; 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 37 

But also now, as in his day, are ranged 
Class against class; each shows a deep unrest. 
Our old content, though paltiy at its best, 
is quite departed, and our people roam 
As others, caring now no more for home 

" I recognize a power, subtle, deep, 
Disturbing, and aggressive, which shall sweep 
All opposition down." 

Upspake the Turk, 

Ristabetani, then: 

"Twas bloody work 
When we opposed, and will again be so; 
For out of Europe we will never go, 
Unless their flashing swords than ours are longer. 
Their guns tell better, and their ships are stronger. 

"Before no creed will we consent to quail. 
And only Allah will our voices hail." 

Tze Lu Yen Mugata, somewhat in ire, 
Met this outburst at once with equal fire: 



28 SEQUEL TO THE 

"Think not that we, who claim Confucius wise 
For our great leader, will his fame despise 
And, coward-like, abandon to contempt. 
Nay! we'll defend, or die in the attempt! 
What! think you tiiat our naval armament 
Is for child's play, or to amuse us meant? 

"We have these Christian weapons learned but 

late, 
And yet, already can we almost mate 
Them gun for gun, and use them well, I trow, 
When we join battle, meeting prow with prow. 

" Confucius said, 'As bends 'fore wind the grass, 
So peoples bow to rulers who harass 
By government oppressive, fiercer far 
Than starving tiger;' but, when calls to war 
Sound loud, the mass their petty quarrels lay 
Aside, and rush like vultures to the prey. 

" By purifying law, Confucius deemed 

Good government would raise them, and this 

seemed 
Sole remedy to him: if pure the head. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 29 

The body would be, likewise; 

Virtue wed 
To strength; while love and mercy federate, 
Give counsel unto judgment, and debate, 
Each with the other, which the first shall flee 
To rescue helpless, weak humanity." 

Phalil Ristabetani then spoke bold: 

"Though law and precept both be good, I hold 
Still better, force. 

The lion, not the lamb, 
Is king of beasts. 

So our faith of Islam 
Depends not upon them to proselyte; 
Our propaganda is the law of might; 
Our logic, that of power. 

Men will not choose 
The rugged path, and ever will abuse 
The right of freedom, — far more dangerous gift 
Than beauty to a woman, which can lift 
The favored one to grandeur. 

Thus 'tis writ 



30 SEQUEL TO THE 

In our great Koran's pages, to permit 
No peace to unbelievers, not to slack 
The onslaught of our legions, but — 

'Attack, 
prophet, the vile infidel with arms, 
And give him no release from war's alarms, 
Till he profess islam.' 

This policy 
Gave grand results; the nations readily 
Embraced the faith, and in it lived content. 
Till radiant victory in our firmament 
No longer blazed; our star of conquest set; 
Our glorious banner trailed in dust; and yet. 
The key of three great continents we hold; 
And will, until that fatal hour foretold 
By prophets, and foreseen by statesmen wise. 
Who see in Europe ominous signs arise, 
Presaging war, which, threatening, scarce re- 
strained, 
As single hair Damocles' sword sustained." 

And now Arjuna Samadura mild: 

"This, to my mind, cannot be reconciled 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS 31 

With right and justice; what by force is gained, 
Must be by force continued and maintained. 
The history of your creed but proves it so: 
When power relaxed, the empire ceased to grow. 

"What good had been so forcefully begun, 
Was, lacking that, as suddenly undone. 

" Besides, if only outwardly conformed 
To some set rule, not inwardly reformed. 
No man is bettered; rather the reverse, 
For to his vices he but adds a worse, — 
That of hypocrisy. 

" I would so wield 
A gentle influence, that the mind would yield 
Itself quite willingly to meditation. 
And soon would fmd, by self-examination. 
That good is best, the only worthy aim 
For all who lay to reason any claim." 

Ristabetani then: 

"That may be true 



32 SEQUEL TO THE 

Of thinking men, who number but the few. 
The multitude, who never think, are saved 
The need of thinking. A smootli way is paved 
In which they walk. 

The semblance, followed, will 
To them become reality, until 
The right grows habit. Better blindly led. 
And forced to good and righteousness, instead, 
By having freedom, to rush madly where 
Wild riot leads unto destruction's lair." 

Yen Mugata now took the word: 

"I side, 
Phalil, with you; for force alone can guide 
To peace and happiness the human mind: 
But 'tis by force within the law confined, 
And not by fire and sword, that best would bind 
Into one brotherhood all human kind.' 

Arjuna Samadura, animated. 

By eloquence sublime invigorated, 

Spake thus: 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 33 

"A strange amazement through me 
thrilling, 
Almost too marvelous to utter, filling 
My heart with awe; a reverence o'er me stealing 
For what 1 see before, quite clear revealing 
That we, today, upon the threshold standing 
Of some new era, change complete demanding, 
In methods old, of thought; and this assembling. 
From eveiy clime, shows human creeds are trem- 
bling; 
A crisis shadows; governments are shaking; 
Events are hastening; histoiy is making. 

" And we, three great ideas represent. 
Their end the same, their means far different. 

"Each one in turn has wielded power vast; 

Has risen, prospered, waned, decayed, and passed. 

" You, Yen Mugata, are the human plane 
On which Confucius labored, and the reign 
Of law and order you would have embraced 
Alone, and for itself. 

This plan is based 



34 SEQUEL TO THE 

Upon the theory of abstract good; 

That men will love it, just because they should. 

" I, Samadura, stand for the ideal. 

"We recognize alone, in the unreal, 
That good exists. 

All matter is at strife, 
And all material things at war with life. 
So, quite discarding interest in these, 
Abandoning the field to those who please, 
What we call 'spirit' seek we to attain, 
And scourge the flesh with all its fancies vain. 

"This gained, and self forgotten, we may wait, 
And tranquilly, almost, anticipate 
The painless joys, th' unchanging, nameless rest 
Of that Nirvana state that we call blest 

"This is the highest human reason can; 
When we consider what we are, and scan 
What may be, from what is, we can conclude. 
When our unsatisfied desires intrude. 
The only refuge from unending pain 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 35 

Is in a realm where life nor death doth reign. 



'&' 



" So reason can but lead to Being's end, 
No other joy conceives, nor hope can lend. 

"Thus I; while you, Phalil, are like to both. 
And your religion seems from ours a growth; 
With something more, as for incentive given. 
By which you hope to gain some fabled heaven 
Where houris dance, and where perpetual joy 
Shall please the sense, nor evils shall annoy. 

" Like Mugata, you force'a government 
In justice robed. Another element 
From my faith yours has borrowed: 

You believe, 
Existence shall continue, and conceive 
It blissful; while to these, you join command 
From some high source, to go with sword in 

hand 
To conquer converts, force them to receive 
What shall be good when swallowed, and relieve 
Their every ill, as kind physicians give 
Unpleasant things, that he wiio dies may live. 



36 SEQUEL TO THE 

"To this great Congress of Religions, we 
Come not as wise men, hut as pupils three, 
Desiring, yea! and hungry, but to learn; 
In seeking knowledge, tiying to discern 
What good, what evil is, and if together 
They shall forever struggle on; 

And whether 
Some truths may be achieved by consultation, 
Which could not be evolved by meditation." 

The three then stood quite silent for a season, 
Seeming impressed with the momentous reason 
For this assembling; when Phalil exclaiming. 
With his accustomed vehemence: 

"We're aiming 
For this great Parliament, though differing wide; 
Yet, still, each path to some extent must guide 
Us on our quest for truth. 

"Our journey ending. 
We soon will separate. The questions pending 
Between us may find adequate solution; 
But I propose to you a resolution: 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 37 

" We three, in converse friendly, have related 
Our views of things, and so anticipated 
in small degree the object of this mission, 
For which we each bear authorized commission. 

"On this broad field, the gathered thought of 

nations 
Presents in all its varied acceptations. 

"We needs must reap superabundant harvest, 
Perhaps the most, from those who differ farthest; 
As I have heard, sometimes extremes, by meet- 
ing, 
But prove they have a circle been completing. 

"There may be much accomplished, or may not; 
But after-time, alone, can answer what. 
A plan 1 bring to you for contemplation, 
Which I desire may meet your approbation; 
Suggesting, when we leave the Worid's Fair city. 
That we convene as a select committee. 

" 1 should much like to hear our learned Confucian 
Give his opinion; while a contribution 



38 SEQUEL TO THE 

From this profound Arjuna, beyond measure 
Would highest value add to learning's treasure. 

"Confessing 1 have yet much thought bestowed 

on 
But little else of lore beside the Koran, 
in this grand book of nations spread before us, 
The God of Nations surely watching o'er us, 
I must some living principles discern, 
And gladly will discuss on our return." 

They all agreed, and, their reunion dated. 
They bade farewell; and thus they separated. 



. Ad Interim 

H, magic city! witli Inaif centuiy's span 




Of wondrous growth, almost Utopian 
'- i^^ Pulsating center of a nation's heart, 
^jM^j(^^ Whose tributary veins to thee impart 
mx The treasures bounteous earth around provides. 

Whose arteries give back enriching tides 

Of life and progress! 

For thy jubilee, 
All ages and all nations came to thee. 

That architecture which the Greeks but dreamed 
On high Parnassus realized, here seemed 
To reach its culmination. 

Crowned with this, 
Ambition surfeited appeared. 

Thy bliss 
Was not yet told. 



40 SEQUEL TO THE 

The whole philosophy 
That thought from ages gleaned came willingly, 
Mayhap, at some new fount to slake the thirst, 
Grown fiercer, as through devious ways, which 

first 
Gave goodly promise, wandering, seeking ever. 
Advancing and retreating, gaining never 
The wished-for goal of perfect knowledge, given 
To none to reach, though all have vainly striven. 

Once unto Solomon, in days of old, 
All nations came, the wonders to behold. 
Which fame had blazoned with her trumpet voice. 
They came "to hear" the words of wisdom 

choice. 
Of his God-given knowledge. 

Once again. 
Near thirty centuries after, come the men 
Of Orient and Occident, inquiring 
The ways of truth, and earnestly desiring 
Of those custodians, the keepers still. 
Of Solomon's and their God's sovereign will, 
To gain some portion. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. +1 

Solomon, inspired 
By love of God, and holy ardor fired. 
Gave freely all they asked, withholding naught; 
And each, rejoicing, gained the knowledge 
sought. 

East, from this center, rolled a tidal wave 

Of knowledge of the God whose power to save, 

And bless, and prosper, which the world had 

stirred 
When dimly shadowed, but now seen and heard 
By living witnesses, grew bright. 

Still on. 
But with diminished force, till Solomon 
Was quite forgot; yet on and on it swept, 
Till only law, as an abstract concept. 
Attained the Eastern sea. Of this the trace, 
Down through the ages, and by eveiy race 
Of Eastern countries treasured, lives today; 
Of moral law from Sinai some faint ray, 
Still unextinguished, gleams through error's night, 
And to its source serves to direct aright. 

This has survived, although corroding age 



42 SEQUEL TO THE 

Has, touching, sullied. 

Evil, roused to wage, 
In Protean form, unceasing combat fierce 

With that God-given law whose light could 

pierce 
its inmost vileness, almost gained its end. 
In quenching that on which their hopes depend. 

Shall, then, these questioners, now termed be- 
nighted, — 

Yet whose whole path one beam of faith has 
lighted. 

Near thirty centuries cherished, loved, and 
guarded, — 

Again with truth as freely be rewarded. 

As when to Solomon they came of old? 

How, and by whom, shall now the truth be told.? 



After 



w 



GAIN o'er ocean's wave a good ship sails, 
And toward the rising sun, with favoring gales, 



;^=s^4J Her course directs. 




Upon her deck, high set 
Above the flying spray, three men are met — 
Three striking figures, each of Eastern race. 
In converse deep engaged, with friendly grace. 

" I greet you well, my brothers," 

Said Phalil, 
The Turk, Ristabetani: 

"We but ill 
The opportunity have apprehended. 
If, in this Parliament so grandly ended. 
We have not something learned. 

As we agreed 
' Before,' so, ' after,' we now meet to read 
Together what the Congress has evolved. 



44 SEQUEL TO THE 

And what grave questions its debates liave 
solved." 

Tze Lu Yen Mugata, tine learned Confucian, 
A man of changeless will and resolution, 
Then, smiling, spoke: 

"You, Phalil, have but voiced 
What also is my mind. 

1 am rejoiced 
To be again with you, my friends and brothers. 
By covenant bound, though some, far more than 

others, 
1 would prefer. 

" I am with wonder dazed 
At all the marvels 1 have heard and gazed 
Upon in this new world; and 1 am filled 
With words for utterance seeking, though un- 
skilled 
My tongue to equal my desire. My thought 
I gave to study of their law, and brought 
To understand; for peace on law depends, 
With harmonv. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 45 

"When China comprehends 
And follows all Confucius' laws profound, 
Then order reigns supreme, and joys abound. 

" But 'tis not always thus; and I desired 
To prove if some great principle, required 
To give stability to law in force, 
By being absent weakened ours. 

"In course 
Of these investigations, followed long, 
I found their laws confusing, and not strong. 

"They are not one great nation with one head. 
But many principalities instead. 
With laws diverse and frequently conflicting. 
The course of justice often thus restricting. 

" I crossed the sea, with deep respect abounding 
For Christian powder and their guns, confounding 
To all our nation, when they forced submission 
At cannon's mouth. 

But now the dread admission 
From me is pressed: to fear, respect has changed. 



46 SEQUEL TO THE 

And horror; for their little guns, deranged 
By spirits evil, shoot when they're not loaded. 
And every day are pointed and exploded, 
By hand of child, at parent innocent. 
Which could not be through power benetlcfnt. 

"No Moloch fierce, or Indian Juggernaut 
Has ruled more cruel, or more havoc wrought; 
For, if for ancestors and parents kind 
No reverence exists in childhood's mind. 
No government in recitude maintained 
Can be. 

'Tis in Confucius' law contained 
In rules of conduct four, 

'The son to serve 
The parents is required,' and not to swerve; 
For 'Filial duty, of humanity 
The true foundation is,' alone can be 
The source of all good government. 

He sought 
Solution for all problems deep, and taught, 
'Humanity is characteristic true 
Of man,' and from relations social grew. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 47 

The first of these, as king and subject mild; 
The next, the parent and obedient child. 
All others follow. 

"In this country strange. 
They have a custom which would disarrange 
All order in my land: 

"A man ambitious 
Of station, in a manner surreptitious 
Distributes cash by thousands; is elected 
A mandarin; but, speedily rejected, 
A mandarin no longer, like the rest, 
Bereft of power stands, and dispossessed 
Of honor's meed. 

" It is my apprehension, 
Confucius would have deemed this a subvention 
Of all true principles of government; 
For if, by right of merit, prominent 
Above their fellows some are formed to rise, 
Destined to lead, experience makes more wise, 
And still more fit that power to exercise, 
Which legislation could best utilize. 



48 SEQUEL TO THE 

" I have a modern method learned, to gam 
Much power and influence, which men of brain 
Alone perform; for, but the truly great, 
Great works accomplish. 

"To appropriate 
A line of railroad for the public good, 
Is philanthropic and quite understood. 

"A railroad, built by little sums collected 
From numerous shareholders, is expected 
To act the part of any gay deceiver. 
And very soon fall heir to a receiver. 

"This favored one receives it all benignly, 
And its affairs are soon progressing finely. 

"Its troubles all are ended now forever, 
For no receiver e'er was known to sever 
The link which binds to duty's obligations, 
More dear than maid and lover's fond relations. 

" I shall proceed at once, on my returning. 
To introduce this feature new, concerning 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 49 



The management of railroads, while I seal 
Myself receiver for the kingdom's weal. 



"There are, in that great country now behind me, 
Praiseworthy laws extant, and which remind me 
Of wise Confucius' teaching. 

"One exception 
Amazed me, and surprised beyond conception: 

" In China, we our authors magnify, 

And prize our books, and laud them to the sky 

With honors and emoluments, the tribute 

A grateful nation hastens to contribute, 

While through all time his name and work abide 

His own possession, and the people's pride. 

'"T is in America quite different: 
An author writes a book, and gives consent 
To have it published; and that moment ceases 
His right to it; but as the sale increases. 
His honors multiply in words and phrases. 
Though little else is given to him but praises. 



50 SEQUEL TO THE 

" He merely writes the book; and this involving 
Long years, mayhap, of study given to solving 
Some deep, important question quite abstruse, 
Condemning to the life of a recluse. 

"Tis written, and the publisher then takes it; 
Henceforth 't is his, for he's the man that ma/ccs it." 

Just here, Phalil, who could contain no longer. 
And tired with indignation rather stronger 
Than usual, with a gesture which alarms 
His friends a moment, as he threw his arms 
High o'er his head, exclaiming, while he waved 
Them wild, as if in justice' cause he braved 
Whole legions of oppressors — 

"This could never 
Be practiced in my land! 

In jail forever 
We lodge a man who robs of all his gains 
The one who gives the service of his brains 
To do his country honor! 



is less right 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 51 

Inherent in a work which gives delight 
To generations, than in that which feeds 
And ministers to merely creature needs? 

" is, then, a horse protected by the laws 
As property, while brain work has no cause 
Which can be heard — no champion to speak 
In trumpet tones? and are the authors weak 
And nerveless, or is fame to them so dear, 
That they refuse reward? or do they fear, 
Or are they proud, or all too rich to plead 
For right and truth 'gainst avaricious greed? 

"A firman of the Sultan gives possession, 
And authors ever guards against aggression. 

"Through generations it affords protection 
Where'er his rule extends, without defection." 

Then Yen Mugata: 

"These claim with precision. 
Their method has effected a division 
Of labor and reward; renown and pleasure 
Belong to one; the other takes the treasure. 



52 SEQUEL TO THE 

The author to the work but gives his leisure; 
The mal<er of the book receives full measure, 
In just return for hazarding his gold, 
And multiplies it many thousandfold. 

" I see an evil in the aggregation 
Of books, and an unlimited creation. 

"Confucius such conditions deprecated; 
And all superfluous books he confiscated. 

"When fev/, they're valued and appreciated; 
But when too numerous, not highly rated. 

" Such knowledge gained, I come to this con- 
clusion: 
That, warned before, avoiding all confusion, 
A government that's wise would check forever 
Increased production; and I shall endeavor 
To advocate all means preservative. 
And be hereafter more conservative." 



Then spoke Phalil: 



" You think a regulation 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 53 

By law sufficient, and in legislation 
Reforms consists. 

The inference I draw 
From this, that your religion is but law. 

"A nation with wise rulers, irritated 

By no disturbing forces, isolated 

From outside influence to breed contention, 

1 could conceive as blest; but should dissension 

Among the rulers rise, all order ends. 

For on them only the whole state depends." 

'"T is even so," 

Yen Mugata here stated; 
"As in our history is demonstrated. 

" When bright arose our statesman Kong-fu-tze, 
About your date of five-fifty B. C, 
Our state was sadly plunged in degradation. 
And far below its former situation. 

"He, notes upon the ' Book of Changes' wrote. 
Which we, today, for wisdom ever quote. 

"Our odes and history he edited. 



54 SEQUEL TO THE 

While famous annals to him credited, 

Of Spring and Autumn, to this day remain, 

As richest treasures. 

Other works contain 
Rare rules of government to save the nation, 
And worthy of the best consideration. 

'"Treat matters solemnly; be temperate; 
Be faithful always; learn to contemplate 
All men in love; in teaching have a guard 
To teach in love;' and, justly to reward 
Real merit, learn this adage: 

'To employ 
According to the times all men.' 

With joy 
Remember well, and understand in sense, 
'Self-sacrifice, and truth, benevolence 
Are one;' and to a heart which apprehends 
All things are possible, such joy transcends 
All speaking. But the author wise had failed. 
And he, before whom evil ever quailed. 
Had died; but virtues he had loved and writ 
For man's enlightenment, he could transmit 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 55 

To other hands to practice for the good 
Of human kind. 

" His proud son understood. 
The wise Tsze Sze composed the grand 'Chung 

Yung; 
'The Doctrine of the Mean.' 

Disciples sung 
His praise, and in Confucian Analects 
Preserved his sayings, simple though complex. 

" Jseng Tze, his follower, with earnest mind, 
Wrote that 'Great Learning' where, today, we find 
All problems solved, if we but know to heed 
The meaning deep, beneath the words we read. 

"Confucius was a scholar, so descended 
To him from ages, scarcely apprehended, 
Much wisdom, which wise Yao unto Shun 
hi precepts gave, when time was but begun: 

" ' Hold fast sincerely to the Mean.' 

In turn. 
By Shun to Yu transmitted, saying, ' Learn, 



56 SEQUEL TO THE 

The mind of man is restless, prone to err; 
Small its infinity for right.' 

" Defer, 
^•''^ Discriminating be, and undivided, 

Doctrine 

of the That you may know the truth to me confided 

Mean 

Of old: 'Hold fast sincerely to the mean.' 
From Yu to Tang, then to King Wen, 'tis seen 
This wisdom flowed. 

King Wu was next to 
know. 
Duke Kung then followed. All with love bestow 
On their successors this wise rule of heart, 
Of which observance could the power impart 
To hold fast to the 'mean.' 

"Then Mencius rose 
^^'/ With loving soul, whose indignation glows 

gentle o ' o o 

Mencius At Sight of wrong. Bad rulers would not hear 
His pleading voice, nor wisdom's laws revere. 

"The times would not have virtue, so to write 
A book, in seven chapters erudite, 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 57 

Was his recourse. 

Like all the world's great 
sages, 
He was rejected; but in after ages 
His knowledge shone. 

"There is clear evidence 
Of this religion gaining prominence, 
Producing great results in government, 
And demonstrating thus its high intent 
O'er others, whose inferiority 
Contrasts with its superiority. 

"Then the prosperity of Tang Yis blessed. 
When virtue flourished and the land had rest. 

Theo- "But soon rose theorists, and under heaven 

rists 

gained All was disordered, to confusion given. 

influence 

"The vile Tsin dynasty burned every book; 
Returning back, Confucius' way forsook. 
And, buiying Confucianists alive. 
Destroying method, seeking to revive 



58 SEQUEL TO THE 

The art of immortality, but lost 

The reins of rule; the empire was the cost. 

Con- "The next great dynasty of Han succeeded, 

fiiciiis 

respected Which, being wise, Confucianism heeded. 
And was respected. 

" Mandarins abounding, 
Were good, and virtue governed; praise resound- 
ing 
From every lip, while, happy and content. 
The people dwelt: and, as a consequent, 
The dynasty endured. 

"The next, demeaned. 
The emperors toward Taoism leaned, 

Taoism 

troubled Their realm neglected, and the country cursed, 
country All Order lost, and happiness dispersed. 

"The Emperor Laing Wu, who longest reigned 

Bud- 
dhism Embracing Buddhism, lost what he gained. 

appeared 

To Tsing Tai monastery he descended, 
And perished of stai'vation. 

"Vilely ended 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 59 

A life which might his country long have saved 
From devastation, and from kings depraved. 

Meantime Taoism was taught and flourished, 
And ruin ruled. 

"Nathless, in secret nourished, 
Return The great Tang dynasty arose, whose king 

of 

coiifii- Solicited Confucianists to bring 
tzannm yj^j^jj. g^^j^olars to hls aid, and so again 
The countiy prospered. 

"Almost what had been 
The status under Cheng and Kang renowned, 
Returned, enduring, giving peace profound. 

"It fell, alas! a ruler took the throne. 

The Emperor Huen Tsung, who had grown 

Of Buddhism and Taoism fond. 

The people could not long endure such bond; 

And so, by chance, wrong medicine partaking. 

This emperor was killed. 

" The next, forsaking 



60 SEQUEL TO THE 

The olden way for Taoism's creed, 
The Emperor Mu Tsung, as all can read, 
imnwr- \Yas sudden taken ill; 't is writ, bv eating 

tality ■ ^ 

pills The pills of immortality, completing 
His life. 

" Succeeding dynasties reduced 
The kingdom to a ruined state, produced 
By blighting Taoism, whose dread hand. 
And power to destroy, naught could withstand. 

" But once again hope dawned o'er human kind, 
So long the victims of vile rulers, blind 
To truth and justice. 

"At the nation's need. 
The Emperor Jen Tsung, in word and deed 
Cared for the people, heaven reverenced. 
The taxes lowered, abated punishments. 

confu- "Assisted by wise scholars, he desired 

cian 

'.oisdom To aid in raising to the state required 

revived -^ . , , i • i i 

To give them peace, which every home retains; 
Unto this day the evidence remains 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 61 

Of this great ruler, whose benevolent 
And loving sway was truly heaven sent. 

"The Mongol dynasty the next arose, 

And governed well; the world maintained repose. 

"Confucian methods and beliefs employed. 
Made peace and order under heaven enjoyed. 

"The great philosophers, named Cheng and 

■ Chow, 
Were in this time in temples placed, where bow 
All good Confucians, and where sacrifice 
Of paper prayers, and every strange device 
Is daily offered. 

" Organized anew, 
The system of examinations grew 
Once more to good proportions; while about 
The land, commissioners, inquiring out 
The sufferings of the people, traveled wide, 
Endeavoring assistance to provide. 

"The dynasty called peaceful, then reformed 
Religion in great measure, but conformed 



62 SEQUEL TO THE 

Somewhat, and pity 't is; tliere were selected 
Strange Buddlnist priests at court, and so neg- 
lected 
Value Confucian ways became, its priests defamed, 

of 

confu- The royal and the good ignobly named, 

danism . , .. . , . , , . , 

And time m worship solely occupied: 
To such a rule, but failure could betide. 

"The evidences these, of worth innate. 
And value of Confucius to the state 
In every age. 

"This ample explanation 
Gives cause sufficient for the preservation, 
Through all historic times, by scholars able, 
Of all Confucian knowledge. 

"Though unstable 
And changeable the people, rulers, worse. 
Have even dared to slander and asperse 
This wisdom. 

" Herein shows what constitutes 
Its rank superior, and attributes, 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 63 

O'er Others called religions, tinat it deals 
in no strange marvels, and in naught appeals 
To things unreasonable, nor mysteries; 
Encourages no wondrous histories. 
It is impartial, and upright, and clear. 
Which one may practice daily, and appear 
To influence every act and vivify 
The person and the life; and this is why, 
{t^ When in Confucianism the sun and moon 

superior 

attri- Shine forth in radiance, then the lesser boon 

butes 

Of candles can dispensed with be, nor missed. 
The book of To Hsioh says, thus ever list 
The voice of virtue; from the rulers high, 
To lowest rank, e'er heed her pleading ciy: 
On this foundation virtue's cause alone 
Securely rests, as fundamental stone 
Of law and order in the world. 

"Of kings 
And mandarins, whose noble station brings 
High duties and responsibilities, 
Is wit required, and great abilities. 



64 SEQUEL TO THE 

"With these attainments, which their rank de- 
mands, 
'A ruler upright is, without commands, 
Obeyed.' 

" Confucius these wise laws revered, 
Transmitted as from ancestors endeared. 
Which Yao gave to Shun in bygone time, 
Wliile yet tlie world was radiant in its prime." 

Then spake Arjuna: 

"You an argument, 
Defending your ideas, fair, present; 
And for Confucianism's cause you plead 
So well, that all some virtues must concede. 



Bud- "But when to Buddhism you would ascribe 

dliisin 

not All China's troubles, then your diatribe 
^ s7b'ie Becomes unjust, unreasoning, untrue; 

Such ill-judged accusations, mayhap due 
To prejudice, unworthy of a mind 
Which forms conclusions from events confmed 
To no one age. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 65 

"A system which defines 
Man's duties clearly, and the heart retlnes 
By generous self-abnegation, tending 
To individual good, on this depending 
The nation's welfare — this, concisely stated. 
Being your argument substantiated. 
Could lead alone to virtue universal; 
Though, having no intentions controversial, 
I may obseiA'e, the ruin and disgrace 
Which you to Buddhist rulers solely trace. 
Inversely may be properly educed 
As not by surfeit, but the lack, produced. 

"However, this aside; the point at issue 
Is not unraveling histoiy whose tissue, 
By time inwoven, mingles threads diverse, 
And no one line of thought, or reason terse, 
Elucidation offers, nor supplies; 
The gravamen of our inquiry lies 
On higher plane by far, nor must we pause 
Till from philosophy we wrest the cause 
Which animates the universe. 

"You praise 



66 SEQUEL TO THE 

Confucianism, which the search allays 
For mysteries and marvels. 

"Here diverge 
Our theories, while we in mind emerge 
From mist-encumbered valley to the height. 
Where reason can more clearly shed her light, 
Revealing mysteries on eveiy side. 
Inviting scrutiny. 

"Shall reason guide 
No farther.? Nay! 'tis wiser follow still 
Unto the utmost, lead where'er it will. 

"'Tis true, should all in high research engage. 
No government could live, as you presage. 

"'Tis equal truth, 'twere justly superseded, 
If equal right, each unto each conceded; 



"Though such ideal conditions constitute 
A modern socialism absolute. 



" Since evil lives, continually conspiring 
Against the good, philosophy, inquiring. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 67 

Attains its higlnest purpose; for of knowing 
Its course and nature, comes the power bestow- 
ing 
Tine knowledge that may palliate its woes, 
Or sovereign remedy complete disclose. 

" T is wiser far, remove affliction's cause 
Than pity symptoms. 

" Prudent who withdraws 
His hand from tire, not staying to essay 
The fire's extinguishing, when by delay 
The evil grows. T is thus that legislation 
Attempts reform. 

"You show on this foundation. 
No good results ensue; and demonstrate 
That on one life uncertain rests the fate 
And happiness of millions. 

"Such condition 
Precarious existing, by attrition 
Destroying good, a constant alternation 
Of evils follow. . For such desolation 



68 SEQUEL TO THE 

The remedy may be, must be, severe; 
Relentless ill demands a means austere. 

Vain "yi^ hopeless struggle, endless for the race, 
resis/ Is best abandoned. Wisdom fmds no place 

In contest vain. Complete unconsciousness 

Must reason win of evil, or confess 

Its vanquishment. 

"To reason only owing 
Is knowledge of all good, and from this growing, 
In turn, the cognizance of what is ill, 
In eveiy sentient being, must instill 
An instinct unto good; more clear defmed. 
Unconscious reason styled; by human kind 
With lower creatures shared, though in degree, 
No more advanced than sensibility 
To physical impressions. 

"All creation, 
Unz- Of miseiy the victim, consolation 

■vcrsatity . i . • 

of Must seek, not in combatmg nor deploring, 
suffering ^^^ .^^ exlsteuce integral ignoring, 

Reducing to innoxious obsolescence, 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 69 

Destroying thus entire its power and essence. 
The "Tine four most Noble Truths, uncompromising, 

Four 

Truths This end desirable to reach, comprising 

First, Sul^'ering, its Cause, and its Extinction, 
The And eight paths leading thence, with this dis- 

Eight 

Paths tinction — 

The four a mental culture inculcating, 
And four, right usages so designating. 
That mind and action wholly dominated 
By will, complete control is consummated. 

" Both pain and pleasure thus become despised. 
And but as mere ideas recognized. 

'"Who has attained this moral celsitude, 
And eveiy human sentiment subdued. 
Becomes, of kingdom or community, 
A valued member. 

"if in unity, 
The world embraces this philosophy. 
The limits then of possibility 
Achieved, such happiness would be acquired 



70 SEQUEL TO THE 

As thought conceived or reason's self inspired. 
Evil " But evil would exist and operate, 

ever 

existent Nor death and sickness, heat nor cold abate; 
Both helpless youth and sui^ering old age 
Must, unconsulted, 'gainst their will engage 
In futile struggle, still perpetuated 
Through eons. 

" Evil, unalleviated, 
Ascends from past as indeterminate 
As is the future. 

"Reason's postulate, 
By process of regressive search, arriving 
At origin, and consequent deriving. 
By parity of thought, the future fate. 
Can augur but what it must deprecate. 

"As from unconsciousness it has emerged, 
So then the mind, at last completely purged 
Of will, desire, and appetite, divests 
Itself of power to suffer, and arrests 
At that insensibility to pain 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 71 

Before existent, and secured again. 



Powers "But miud has properties which far transcend 

of mind 

to Pass These limitations physical, nor end 

beyond r . ■ , . i ^ 

t/u- Its powers of action here; so reason s bent, 
senses y^^ foUowed, Other vistas vast present. 



"These qualities subsist, have entity 
And motive; in some sense, reality. 

"Investigating that which dwells within, 
A universe, unrolls, ideas spin 
And whirl before the mind. Emotions quicken. 
Discoveries awake, conclusions thicken. 
An order and succession are revealed, 
A plan unfolds, a law no more concealed. 
Which animates ali nature, is expounded 
By interchange of mind; this being founded 
Upon that law of chemical exchanging 
Of atoms taking place, without deranging 
Aught of stability, which, while consisting 
Of constant shift, proves fixedness existing. 

" T is not denied that reason may have dared 



72 SEQUEL TO THE 

Reason To pass its powei's restricted, and declared 

ventures 

too far Some things fo be, which e'en itself must prove 
Unprovable, and logic strict behoov- 
It to avoid, as dialectic rocks 
Where total shipwreck lurks, and wide unlocks 
imagination's realm, where fancy plays 
The guide to find what heart v/ould crave, nor 

stays 
At any marvel or wild inference, 
Nor hesitates at violence to sense 
To satisfy the natural desires 
For never-ceasing being, and inspires, 

"When logic disappoints and hope is dead. 

An argument, where wish and thought are wed. 

" However iiar that may be demonstrated, 
And reason's lack by fancy compensated, 
In whatsoe'er direction human thought 
Explores the universe, at last 't is brought 
Where stands, impregnable and stern, opposing 
All further progress, and in naught disclosing 
What "tis that hinders, but with threatening 
mien. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 73 

Behind which stretches the Unknown, Unseen, 
A blank partition wall, beyond which, hid. 
Lie mysteries untold, advance forbid 
By guardian Ne plus ultra. 

" Reason rests, 
Reason But loud proclaims — 'Though destiny's behests 

proves 

existence Debar my entrance, and my bounds have set, 
uH^Jn There is beyond, where boundlessness has met 
power to ^Q barrier; where Cause, and Life, and Mind 

ac/ncve 

Exist, are active, free, and uncontlned; 
The Great Eternal Truth, Originator, 
The Unknown and Unknowable Creator.' 

" Concerning man, what only is potential 
Indubitably forms the one essential; 

"Thus, knowing nature's laws inviolate, 
Unheeding them, hold but this predicate, — 
To seek for good, and in all ways to lend 
The mind, the rule of reason to extend." 

Then said Phalil: 

'"Tis reasonable to care 



74 SEQUEL TO THE 

As nothing for the present, and prepare 
For what beyond existent evil dwells; 
Which inference your searching mind compels 
Alone from reason. 

"Us the Koran's aid 
The Such arduous task redeems, and, undismayed, 

Koran 

assists The Mussulman affronts all menaced ills 
."' With that indifference and scorn, which kills 

The power to move, and looks to heaven's re- 
dress — 

Not like Arjuna, one of nothingness. 

"A state of bliss it promises, procured 
By conquering self-interest, assured 
To faithful Moslems. 



"Though the discipline 
co7n. is, of these creeds, the same, the ends we win 

parison . , , 

of Are Wide as all creation s bounds apart. 
creeds q^^^ blooiTis with hope, the other chills the heart. 

" One holds for pleasure, increased aptitude, 
And one, a universe of solitude. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 

"Reward and promise, to humanity, 
Are best incentives for integrity 
Of mind and purpose, and to sucli degree 
Make more men rigliteous, since in purity 
And virtue, Inonesty and rectitude, 
Tlian sinfulness, man lias less habitude. 

"The wall which bars to reason all advance. 
To us, unveiled in part, affords a glance 
Of what exists beyond, and God, enclouded 
From reason's gaze, is partially unshrouded 
By revelation's light, which penetrates. 
If dimly, yet the gloom illuminates. 

" He, through eternity, events foresees, 
And, foreordained, unaltered, His decrees. 

imitiii- "To will, is to effect. Utilitv 

tability 

of Is none in combat. Our philosophy, 
Purposes Not, like Yen Mugata, on law relies. 
Nor to forgetting, like Arjuna, hies. 
But to whatever is, unquestioning bows: 
'Tis God commands, empowers, or allows. 



76 SEQUEL TO THE 

"The meaning of Islam, is resignation; 
And so its spirit is renunciation, 
WitJT strict accountability of each 
To God alone for eveiy act and speech; 

" For evil, just entails remuneration; 

And righteousness, rewards and compensation. 

Gods " For God is One, Almighty and Supernal, 

omnis- 
cience All-hearing, Seeing, Knowing, and Eternal; 

Performing all that /s, and all including, 
Containing space and time, all else precluding; 
Without beginning, end, or transmutation. 
The One Immortal Truth of Revelation.' 

Then said Arjuna, as in deep reflection; 

"We surely know, by thorough introspection, 
There is one Truth, and man cannot oppose Him; 
Nor can our utmost searching e'er disclose Him. 
We nam.e Him the Unknown, hnpenetrahle, 
At distance infinite and inscrutable." 

Sententiously, Mugata made reply: 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 77 

C""- "Confucius taught, 'Ti' only can apply 

fitcius 

accoiuit To heaven alone, The Ruler, One Supreme, 

of 

heavens The Govemoi', above whom none may deem; 

po.ot>s ^j_^^ Yang and Yin, two principles, produces. 
And, causing their uniting, thus induces 
The useful elements origination; 
So tire and water owe their generation, 
And earth and metal, wood and man befell; 
Mans Who is the heart of heaven and earth, as well 
As most intelligent; the rest consist 
Of refuse products; and 'mong men subsist 
The worthies, choice above the choice, and sages; 
The foolish form the refuse of the ages. 

"He who would know to combat evil's hand. 
Must by this way man's nature understand. 

"Of certain substances he is composed. 
And nature, howsoever kind disposed. 
Can only act on matter as contained 
In individual creatures. 

"This explained 
In reference to animals, narrates — 



78 SEQUEL TO THE 

A?ii- Which their imperfect power substantiates — 

ma/s' 

imper- Their substance is more earthy, gross, defective, 

fictions 

And elementaiy; while man, reflective, 
is called, the nucleus of the elements. 
The sacred tire, ethereal, intense. 
Above all creatures raised in dignity; 
Yet only intellectuality 
Can his essential imperfections drive 
Into subjection. 

"Then will \-irtue thrive. 
Subdued be anger, appetite restrained. 
Integrity and purity maintained. 

" Some look for evil's sudden overthrowing, 

To panacea universal owing; 

But nature secret works, and slow unfolds. 

Abilities innate she gently molds. 

And can do nothing more. 



'es 



" if man, debased, 
Faiiand Hls dignity has lost, his rank defaced, 

restora- 
tion of kwd^, lower than an animal, reduced 

What, shared with them, of appetite induced 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 79 

By weak indulgence, he is not a man; 
But if, witli fear and trembling, nature's ban 
Is once again removed by true repentance, 
'Tis merely justice to reverse his sentence. 

" So all Confucianists indoctrinate, 
And thus their novices initiate. 

" But when in every man an evil heart 
Rules rampant, then no power can impart 
Good government. What equal misery 
Can be conceived? Reformers piously 
So seek to mete impartial justice free, 
That evil spirits, which maliciously 
Pervade the times, are exorcised, and dwell 
Not near solemnities, and music's spell. 

"And such improvement renders vain the use 
Of sword and punishment, save when abuse 
Of privilege extreme, and last resort 
Compels, lest spirits evil shall distort 
The age. 

"Confucius' aim was to restore 



80 SEQUEL TO THE 

inno- pnmeval innocence, extant before 

cence the 

former With man; establisliing a standard liigh 

state 

ofman Of goodncss and salvation, and defy 
Tlie evil powers. 

"Right principles of force 
Are only understood by strict recourse 
To waxing and then waning elements 
Of active and alternate passive sense 
Of nature, in the 'Bool< of Changes' writ. 
To which all essence must at last submit. 

Matis "Thus meek Kong-fu-tze teaches, since we fail 

duties 

to in duty unto men, shall we prevail 

spirit 

in obligation unto spirit rare? 

Shall we, who nothing know of life, declare 

The sum of death? 

"These reasons penetrating. 
The wisest men of China, in debating, 
Have warrant deemed sufficient to permit 
No suppositions, but entire omit 
All teaching touching spirit, and confine 
To duty unto man; nor undermine 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 81 

The understanding by vain speculations 

On after-deatli conditions, and relations 

Of spirit unto matter; but inferring, 

From clauses in the 'Book of Change' occurring, 

We may conclude that, after leaving earth. 

They but resume that held before their birth. 

Con- " High heaven, or 'Ti,' so far above contains, 

fucian 

system of That ouly emperors to its domains 
7oancIs- Can sacrifice present; while unto lands, 
'"''^ And agriculture, rivers, mountains, hands 

Of Governors of Provinces arrive; 

All lower officers, but unto five 

Preceding generations gifts may proffer; 

The people, to ancestors only offer. 

"But as religious ceremonial. 

These sacrifices have no weight at all. 

"The best among the people, congregated 
In colleges and schools, are educated, 
Where wisdom, virtue, and benevolence 
Are inculcated, with due reverence 
For government, which each may execute, 



82 SEQUEL TO THE 

As ruled or ruler, as his rank may suit." 
Phalil, in wonder, quick exclaimed: 



held 



Hesuits All else as heathen, nor conceived there welled 

of prej- 
udice A rill of good in any creed but mine; 

But, I perceive, that truth will not consign 

To narrow bounds. 



"Your theoretical 
And noble methods educational. 
Give influence and power to the best 
And fittest of the people, and attest 
Their merit; but e.xperience denies 
Success in fact, and history applies 
The truest proof. 

"Responsibility 
Too crushing falls on mere humanity, 
While from without, assistance offers not, 
As in your system, God is quite forgot. 

" I marvel much, that human thought can rise 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 83 

So high, that quite unaided it descries 
( If it indeed be so ) a government 
On such a lofty plane. 

"The sentiment 
Islam- s Of Islam influences daily life 
''^' w And education; but ambition's strife 
influence p^^j. pQ^^^g,- ^nj_^ statiou is uot Cultivated; 

'Bove worldly praise the mind is elevated. 

" But in your creed, the strange association 
Of that ancestral worship, in relation 
To moral law developed, and perception 
Of rights of man in true and just conception, 
Amazement wakes. 

" Again, when spirits evil 
Evil The nation trouble with a wild upheaval, 
'tlhe You know no remedy save music's charm 
'""''''^ And ceremonies, evil to disarm. 

'"Tis curious when reason forms alliance 
With superstitions crude. We bid defiance 
To powers of evil, by the power of prayer; 



84 SEQUEL TO THE 

Five times each day, good Mussulmen prepare 
The heart by orisons. 

" This may appear 
A system slavish, arduous, severe. 
Through it, the weak in judgment are impelled 
In righteous ways. 'T is better be compelled 
To good; and that religion will prevail. 
That by this test can stand; and that will fail. 
Which, judged by human conduct, shows defect 
In influence. 

"Good Mussulmen expect 
That in this might, triumphantly uprising, 
Will Islam prosper, revolutionizing 
The world's religions. 

" God made and created 
All men; but Abraham predestinated, 
To keep the truth untarnished in the world; 
And when Mahomet's banner was unfurled, 
It was in protest raised, and indignation 
For Mecca's sacred temple's profanation. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 85 

Worship 'Three hundred sixty idols vile polluted; 

of stars 

andidois While unto stars, divinity, imputed. 
Astrologers' unreal portents upheld, 
With paganism dominant, repelled 
His heart, which, turning unto Abraham, 
Restored the pure religion to Islam. 

"This faith, immovable as Ararat's 
Unchanging mountain, which, like God's fiats 
Immutable, endures without progressing. 
The sum of all, its followers confessing." 



Arjuna, then: 



in India, Phalil, 



Idols The idols are not worshiped, but fulfill 

in India, 

and their A pai't \x\ representing to the mind 
ineamn^j^^ great idea, which is but enshrined 

Within the heart, though dimly. He who bows 

in India to an idol, will arouse 

And tell you: 

"'Him the sun cannot repress, 
Nor moon, nor stars, nor lightning can express, 



86 SEQUEL TO THE 

Nor fire explain; they through Him only shine, 
While all that live, exist through Him divine' — 

"Though undeveloped intellect may screen 
The far idea, by the image seen. 

" in this America my eyes have viewed 
Some acts which might be equally construed: 

"To bow before a picture, statue, saint. 
Excites in Christian churches no restraint. 
And I perceive no difference, unless 
in this: less beauty and less comeliness 
And less attractiveness, to chain the heart. 
Have India's idols, than their counterpart. 

Pica for " The very argument, as urged to me 

rLp7-escn- 

tation of In free America, is India's plea. 

ideas by 
images 

"The Buddhist, Brahman, and Hindoo adduce 
The im.age merely serves to reproduce 
The great idea, which, though not defined. 
Has yet to every phase some form assigned. 

"The Christians raise to saints memorial shrines. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 87 

And loved relations; where, then, draw the lines? 

"If Hindoos to their saints due honors use, 
Which shall be blamed, and who shall dare ac- 
cuse? 

" While Mussulmen, who so from idols shrink 
When others bow, — what shall those others think 
Of Mecca's black, unshapen stone, and tomb? 
And what, when to their consciousness there 

loom 
The thousands who before Mahomet's name 
Fall and adore? 

"Are not these acts the same? 

"Mahomet, who was man, nor greatness earned. 
Above Confucius, or Gautama learned. 



" Gautama Buddh his followers forbid 
To search the realms, where mystery is hid, 
Where origin unfolds itself complete. 
Since this involves inquiry indiscreet. 



88 SEQUEL TO THE 

And questioning of God. 

"But 'tis comprised 
, '^^^^ In ancient literature, and clear advised 

philoso- 

Ph- By 'Constitution of the Cosmos' tried, 

returns 

with Symbolical expressions set aside, 
vernal What previous hierophants confirmed 
Is now by modern thinkers reaffirmed; 
The precept old, is of new thought the kernel — 
That spirit and that matter are eternal. 

"The written word of India's ancient minds. 
The present to the past securely binds. 
While recent sciences, and theory. 
Advance conclusions in philosophy, 
Like echoes sounding from the Orient, 
Reverberating to the Occident. 

"Thus thought, revolving like the circling earth, 
Completes an era, and attains new birth. 



Chinese " gyj- you, Mugata, searching annals old, 

theory 

of man Accounting for man's origin, unfold 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 

A Strained, material liypothesis, 
Resolving man into a synthesis 
Of elements, to substance attribute 
The natures differing of man and brute 

"With this, can reason not affiliate; 

For, as these elements disintegrate. 

Must mind and intellect and thought disperse, 

And you man's dignity thereby asperse. 

"Man's mind, superior, is tenant proud, 
Of body, with superior powers endowed. 
While virtue dwells in that ethereal 
Which vivifies inert material. 



"Among the Christian sects is one embraced, 
Whose principles and tenets may be traced 
To Eastern thought. 

"Called Evolutionists, 
The nam.e and creed misled, and as Buddhists 
1 them regarded, till they clearly styled 



90 SEQUEL TO THE 

The Themselves as Christian 

doctrine 

"f Their belief compiled 

evolu- 
tion From others seems, and, like to yours, combined 

With theories of matter, while the mind. 

From this evolved, is but an adjunct thin. 

Or energy kinetic, held within 

"With me they argue, that through beasts to man 
Come life and thought. For beasts they further 

plan 
A full advancement unto man's estate; 
While men progress somewhat, to compensate 
What animals acquire. 

"For them this creed 
Fulfillment gives complete; more than concede 
The transmigrationists, while man remains 
But what he was and is, and nothing gains. 

"This hope for beasts entirely subsists; 
While for the human race, in it exists 
A something vague, and undefined, and dim, 
Of promised rise, while in the interim. 
The highest intellectuality 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 91 

The universe implies of entity 

A culmination sees in man effected; 

Its only adoration is directed 

To that humanity, which, freed from crime, 

Shall yet develop o'er the wrecks of time. 

" All other creeds have modes of worship ren- 
dered, 
To past or present forms by life engendered. 
While this, illogical, belief requires 
in nonexistent life, which their desires 
For future evolution formulate. 
Confucianism, more discriminate 
And more consistent, gives its fealty 
To noble, dignified humanity. 
Which has existed, and the right acquired. 
To be through ages honored and admired. 

" If life can be educed from matter dead. 
Then thought must be inert, and reason sped. 

" If mind, conceiving progeny, can breed 
Above itself an ideal, then, indeed, 
Can logic without premise be instilled. 



92 SEQUEL TO THE 

And man a tower without foundation build. 

"In reason, thus the evolutionist 
Lags far behind the Eastern rationalist, 

Origin "Who sees life breathing througii the universe, 
life And law to order bound, while they reverse 
This logic, seeking to consolidate 
All cosmic origin and concentrate. 
In undiscovered atom, life's first germ. 
Which shall their theory serve to confirm. 

" If moral qualities and intellect 

Derive from nothingness, we may expect 

"That deepest darkness light originates. 
And motion but from stillness emanates. 

" And yet no evolutionist would dare 
Subscribe to these, for with most tender care, 

"In one small nest, two birds of hue diverse 
Secure they bind, though each to each adverse; 

"And teaching matter is of life the source, 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 93 

They hold the conservation of all force. 

"Those who to reason's tenets strict adhere, 
Have no fallacious postulates to fear; 

"No logic to discount, or defalcation. 

But quite consistent find each explanation. 

^'f^^ "Life must by former life have been preceded, 

>!0/ SpO)l- 

taneoiii And mind but from intelligence proceeded, 
As bubbling spring must from a fountain rise. 
Though it behind a rocky barrier lies. 

"if life into existence sudden sprung. 

From fate implacable, a moment v/rung 

Concession brief to be, and no assurance 

For its continuing, without endurance, — 

Then what with time began, with time must end; 

And life inaugurate at birth depend 

On physical conditions which ordain 

Life's origin and only can sustain. 

" Escaping this inevitable law. 

And rule of logic, where exists no flaw, 

We argue that, admitting transmigration 



94 SEQUEL TO THE 

Through eons numberless, and consummation 
In perfect man, evolved of many lives, 
The human mind most rest and joy derives, 

" Though reason fails, nor can make inquiry 
Of records, or av/aken memory." 

Mugata then: 

"If animals can sever 
^'-i^"- The links which bind to matter gross, and ever 
ui^ainst Become as men, why not as yet perfected 
tion And metamorphosis complete effected r* 

"If there are monkeys now, it is because 
They could not, by outraging nature's laws, 
Transform to men. 

" If monkeys will but speak 
What they may know, then none will be more 

meek 
Than I to listen. 

" In the rocky pages 
Of nature's book, outspread in ancient ages, 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 95 

Remains of greater quadrumana found 
Than those that now exist on earth, abound; 
While man's traditions, carefully preserved, 
Of primal innocence from which he swerved, 
Quite clearly these two facts accentuate. 
Of man and monkey both degenerate. 

"A logic similar continues good, 
By all investigators understood: 

"Sea monsters, elephants, and birds are less 
Gigantic than of old, as all confess; 

"While flying dragons once soared through the 

air. 
And griffins, with whose forms none now com- 
pare, 
Whose bones, in rock preserved, alone attest 
The truth of written wonders, which impressed 
The world as fiction, till to facts removed, 
As other mai'vels may be yet approved. 

"But transmigration, which Buddhists declare, 
And transformation into spirits rare, 



96 SEQUEL TO THE 

Remain unproven still, though reason's aid 
Invoked, has shown it utmost powers displayed. 

"Nor can its theoiy, by evidence 
Of facts or nature gaining countenance, 
Find any help; and if it should, 'tis plain 
So many lives the world could not contain. 

" A burning ardent, whose extinguished tlame 
Has been rekindled, is not yet the same, 

" It to a different source existence owes; 
And, after rain, when glistening drops disclose 
A rainbow brilliant, 't is no repetition. 
But every moment new; by this condition, 
We know that transmigration is illusion. 
And should be passed as but a fond delusion. 

" That goodness will be tuially repaid, — 
Though its reward seems uselessly delayed, — 
And evil acts as certainly chastised. 
Is, by the 'Book of Changes,' authorized: 

'"Those who good deeds will multiply, shall 
count 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 97 

As joy, to oveiflowing joy shall mount, 

"'And those who evil deeds with evil cover. 
Shall heap calamities to running over.' 

" And adding this precept, for guidance given, 
It names ' Sincerity ' the way of heaven." 

Then said Arjuna: 

" Holding just reward 
Of good and evil are we in accord; 
Though numbered as the sects of each belief 
Are methods held by which each seeks relief. 

"The grounds, however, upon which is rested 

Life's continuity, must needs be vested 

On better-reasoned and more firm foundation 

Than any yet-conceived elucidation 

Arising, by the terms of evolution. 

From matter, self-endowed with resolution 

And life and thought, which reason may be found 

The rather in analysis, unsound, 

Of that converse opinion, than can move 



98 SEQUEL TO THE 

By facts which nature or observance prove. 

" Far easier, by reasoning to plead 
That life is self-existent, than accede 
To origin, however well deduced. 
From any evidence to be adduced. 

"That atom, ultimate and animated, 
Had antecedents, must be predicated; 
The antecedents then were antedated 
By predecessors who officiated 
As links connecting, and long lines unfold 
Of ancestors, through eons yet untold. 

Brother- "Thls common origin thus operates 

hood 

amo7ig To make all living organisms mates. 

Bud- 
(ihtsts 

" All men as brothers, and forgetfulness 
Of personality, with selfishness 
As barely duty; so the Buddhist leaves 
Himself aside, and fellowship conceives 
For all his race. 

" Enlightened Buddha gave 
This teaching unto those he 'hopes to save,' 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 99 

With whom, partaking nature's attributes, 
He equal wisdom with himself imputes: 

" ' No life beyond my boundless love intrudes, 
In three worlds, which the universe includes.' " 

And now Phalil explained: 

" Mohammed taught, 
Brother- What Is your brother's is but yours, and naught 
'Tatght That is your own but is your brother's right; 
%f^„ If aid he need, 'tis yours to help delight 
A brother's heart. 

"This deep fraternity 
With union blessed our Moslem chivaliy. 
And triumph of our arms. 

" Disunion rank. 
Divisions and dissensions, quickly sank 
The empire, and disrupted; but, renewed. 
It Phenix-like will rise in plenitude. 
When brothers with their brothers true unite. 
And in Mohammed's name the nations smite; 



100 SEQUEL TO THE 

"When shall unfurl the sacred standard high, 
The faithful summoning to dare or die." 

Then spoke Mugata: 

" Tis religion phrased, 
To practice wisdom, and by Chung Yung praised, 

"That book of knowledge how to live informs; 
To heaven's will our piety conforms; 
For under heaven our religion sees 
B.ut one great family. 

"By its decrees 
Great rulers are as elder brothers viewed. 
Great ministers mere officers construed, 
In one vast clan, and all, as brothers, owed 
The self-same parents; nature's gifts bestowed 
With equalness, prove all should be enjoyed 
As for the common weal, nor aught employed 
To use exclusive. 

"Heaven and earth combining 
As parents, in equality conjoining 
All men alike, and so Confucianists 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 101 

Accept that prudent counsel, which insists — 

" 'Fear greatly, lest 'gainst heaven ye offend;' 
And Mencius says, 'That he who can extend 
No pity, is not man;' while Kong-fu-tze 
All duty sums in 'Reciprocity'; 

"Which we interpret, as may clear be seen, 
An equal interchange of acts to mean. 

"To this great principle the Congress bowed 
Unqualified assent, and God allowed 
As Father of the nations, while with men 
Was brotherhood acknowledged, who, till then, 
Were heathen named, by whom no germ of good 
Was known, nor could by them be understood. 



The "We have approved the universal prayer, 

Chris- 

iia?i-s Which seems complete dependence to declare 
'''^^"' On heaven's will. 



"We say with all our heart 
The words, ' Our Father who in heaven art,' 
And ' hallowed be thy name,' with one consent; 



102 SEQUEL TO THE 

While from a Father's hand benevolent 
We ask for daily sustenance, and crave 
Forgiveness, and deliverance to save 
From evil powers unknov/n. 

"The Fatherhood 
Of God we magnify, as children should; 
But for what kingdom down from heaven they 

pray. 
On earth to come, 1 heard no Christian say. 



Appear- " ] gathered also this, as we confess: 

ance of a 

fcurth That death transfers to unknown restfulness; 



"But, once removed from earthly scenes to bliss, 
Why should that kingdom ever come to this?" 

As thus the three, in converse occupied. 
This question reached, which no one could de- 
cide, 
A man approached, to whom Arjuna turned, 
As if a form familiar he discerned. 
And said reflectively: 

"This man I know 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 103 

Was present at the Parliament, although 
His name 1 heard not." 

Then cosmopolite 
Arjuna, with well-chosen words polite, 
The stranger, mild and gentle, thus addressed: 

"You, sir, by face and feature are impressed 

Upon my memoiy, in consequence 

Of strict attendance at each conference 

By that Religious Padiament convened 

In great Chicago— and whose Congress gleaned 

The thought of ages. 

"We are three who took 
Such interest in knowledge, we forsook 
Our ways accustomed, and to habit grown, 
To follow any hope for truth new sown 
Among mankind, and, interested, heard 
What was outlined, and sought in eveiy word 
The meaning to unfold. 



'55 



"Together here, 
We now discuss these things as they appear 
To our conceptions. 



104 SEQUEL TO THE 

" If in our discourse 
it is your pleasure to unite, a source 
Of joy 'twill prove to us, for counsel brings 
Instruction, when conjoined to counselings." 

Then said the man: 

" I will with gladness pause, 
Where things of heaven and earth, or nature's 

laws 
Are subjects of discussion and debate; 
For these inquiries ever dominate. 
In interest, aught else that may arise 
For man's intelligence to scrutinize. 

" Who sees the book of nature wide unclosed 
In all its varying phases, is disposed 
To thoughts on that Creator which impart 
That reverence which should occupy the heart. 



'As 1 to you, so also you to me 
^ave grown familiar in 
Attended in convention. 



Have grown familiar in the halls where we 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 105 

"1 obsei'ved 
Your system, and your arguments have served 
To waken thought anew. 

"Your names I know, 
And that to honor virtue, you forego 
All ease in wisdom's cause, your zeal inspired 
By great and universal Truth admired." 

"Are you, then. Christian?" 

Now inquired Phalil. 
The man replied: 

"A witness, I fulfill ' 

The What 1 conceive of duty, and affirm 

nsntuess 

declares That I an Israelitish Christian term 
"""■^ Myself to be, and properly describe. 

Though boasting not of Judah's royal tribe. 

"For I to Israel but appertain, 
And this adoption legally may gain 
Through that great Son, to Abraham decreed. 
With heirship of the world, the promised Seed; 



106 SEQUEL TO THE 

For if within that covenant we draw, 

Then we as children rank, and heirs at law." 

Arjuna said: 

" i now with joy perceive. 
That you into our counsels interweave 
New vigor, and that wisdom will proceed 
From wisdom." 

Then pronounced Phalil: 

" Indeed, 
It seemeth strange to one who proud avers 
His lineage direct, and race refers 
To Abraham, by blood and faith allied. 
To hear such Christian claims to him implied. 

"The Christians that 1 heretofore have met, 
With you do not agree, but quite forget 
The father of the faithful, and address 
His blood with taunts, his followers oppress." 

Then spoke the witness: 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 107 

"Though all men may strive 
For precedence, and quarrel, still will thrive 
The truth in many hearts; as when of old 
A tale of bitter sorrows manifold 
Distressed Elijah, upon Horeb told. 
And Abram's God his loneliness consoled, 

"That seven thousand men in Israel 

Had never bowed the knee, nor worshiped Bel. 

"The God whom faithful Abraham adored 
Remains the same benign and gracious Lord, 
Eternal, without change or parallax, 
Omnipotent, nor will his love relax. 

" But call by any name, in any tongue, 
He still will hear, where'er his praise is sung. 
Or care desired; and where, among the nations. 
One worketh righteousness, his supplications 
Arise approved. 

"The Parliament's conclusion 
Father- Qf Fatherhood of God, was fresh infusion 

hood of 

God Of precept old; and brotherhood of man 



108 SEQUEL TO THE 

Was taught by ancient hard Athenian. 



'fe' 



"When Paul, at Athens, found -an altar reared 
To ' Unknown God,' whom, yet avowed and feared. 
They recognized and worshiped, he denounced 
Them not as heathen, but, urbane, announced — 
'Whom ye in ignorance adore, I preach 
To you.' The thoughts of your own poets reach 
This truth: 'We are his offspring:' gently states — 
' Of but one blood earth's nations he creates.' 

" To Abraham, two thousand years before. 

In substance this declared, ere Grecian lore 

Embodied, or inspired Paul adduced, 

And ere the Parliament anew produced, 

Near forty centuries upon it piled, 

Almost o'erwhelmed, and its clear light defiled." 

Then said Arjuna in amazement: 

"Sir, 
Your words, profound and strange, surprise and 

stir 
Emotions new, for you with certainty 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 109 

Speak bold on matters which most frequently, 
By earnest friends, as doubtful are supposed; 
But your asseverations have disclosed 
Some deeper mysteries than have appeared 
Within the Christian system as upreared 
For our investigation in convention 
Assembled in Chicago. 

"Your contention 
For such antiquity, authenticated, 
Will prove what we as ancient venerated. 
To be but young. 

"How you, as Christian 
classed. 
Can lay such deep foundation in the past, 
I fain would understand. 

"The Christ but taught 
In recent history, and ancient thought. 
His whole morality anticipated, 
While teachers many recapitulated." 

The man replied: 



no SEQUEL TO THE 

" I must to your request 
'^'"' Show fullest answer; 't is 'The Word's' behest, 

Chris- 
tian To give a reason, whomsoe'er shall ask 

hope 

The Christian's hope, and mine the honored task. 

" To you 1 need not prove that God exists. 
The Parliament's whole reasoning consists 
In demonstrating Being \ox the Head 
And Author of the universe; thus led 
By stern necessity, which would account 
For law and order ruling paramount. 

" 1 heard you argue that One Great Supreme 
Held domination, and your speeches teem 
With awe expressed, yet, unto him attain, 
As only 'God Unknown,' whom Athens' fane 
Acknowledged. 

" Here is reason's limitation 
Established. You compared this termination 
To wall impenetrable, which debars 
Progression farther, though the sun and stars 
Of heaven declare ' Beyond is God abiding,' 
And reason yields to faith for future guiding. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. Ill 

Relation- " Pq,- j-eason is of faith another phase, 

sni/i of '■ 

faith And faith, as supplementing reason, plays 

and 

reason Fraternal part; thus, hand in hand together, 
They walk consistently, not heeding whether 
The one or other first explores the way. 
So reason knows that each recurring day 
Has its tomorrow, and will be succeeded 
By yet another; but if faith receded 
From reason's side, or faith in reason failed, 
Then would its whole foundation be assailed. 

"Those who such faith in reason thus allow. 
To reason in the faith must equal bow 

"The faith in reason will I justify, 
And reasoning's conclusions amplify. 
Beyond where you will trust its trembling ray. 
And, clearly, some great attributes display, 
Which that ' Unseen One' surely must possess 
Or yet a mightier providence confess. 

"He exercises mind supreme; to will 
Is to decree, and unopposed fulfill. 



112 SEQUEL TO THE 

Argil- "jhe wondrous plan and system which expand 

vient 

from As nature is unfolded, at demand 

nature' 

Of man's intelligence, with force appeal 
To admiration, and approval's seal 
Unquestioned wins; so far above conception 
Acknowledged, of his finite powers inception. 

"Thus argued Cicero: 'All nature shows 
Intelligence and order; these disclose 
Infallible and unambiguous proof, 
That mind divine, and infinite, aloof 
Unrivaled dwells; and, as revealed at night. 
The moon and planets, by reflected light 
Of distant, lustrous sun illuminated, 
Is God in nature, fully demonstrated.' 

Goodness .' j|^j5 i,^ j^g^if t]-,g 'Unseen One' concedes 

of God 

Proven As ' Good Supi'eme,' for symmetry upleads 
To high regard, and clearly adumbrates 
The Author gracious; this but illustrates 
That law and order, being good, innate,- 
Which mind and reason both adjudicate,— 
So chaos and disorder are proclaimed 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 113 

To be as synonyms with evil named. 

"That men from God the faculties receive 
To recognize, contemplate, and perceive 
In nature beauties prodigal, behold 
The grandeur of the universe unfold, 
Proves goodness and good will to men below; 
For, like the beasts, he might exist, and go 
With eyes fixed ever downward, occupied 
With creature needs, which, for the nonce sup- 
plied, 
Anxiety at peace, and slumbering, 
Untroubled rests, nor heeds what time may bring. 

" With every sense by man possessed, is power 
To compass and enjoy; while eveiy hour 
The object is provided to produce 
The joy intended, and subseive the use 
And purpose in creation, which assists 
The aim for which capacity exists. 

"This also demonstrates benignity, 
And great good will; for if malignity 
In heaven overruled, and good repressed. 



114 SEQUEL TO THE 

Impressions evil only manifest 

Through nature, to the senses could with ease 

Have been conveyed, as now are those that please. 

"With equal sunshine while the rain descends 
On all, must man acknowledge good transcends. 

"The systems of philosophy which deal 
With man's condition, and his future weal, 
From but one premise and one point diverge. 
Exemplifying that in this converge 
All human destinies; 

"That evil dwells 
Prcva- With hapless man, and death at last compels 

lence of 

evil Relinquishment of life. 

"This not denied, 
Yet is the evil overmagnifled. 
And so conceals the great preponderation 
Which nature liolds of good for approbation. 
As children, for a trifle they have not, 
Have blessings numberless complete forgot. 

" What is of force in argument derived 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. H5 

From one, unfortunate, of sense deprived, 
Or born defective in whate'er degree, 
As placed against the thousands who are free 
From fault or blemish? 

"Does not imperfection. 
Thus seldom found, prove that the one exception 
Can explanation tmd, and cause, that could 
Show what o'ercame the natural and good?" 

Arjuna said: 

"Tis true the tendency 
Phil- Of earnest searchers in philosophy, 

OSOpIlV rr • J-i. i. 

Starts On human suffermg to meditate, 

^'"'"asfts And start from evil as a postulate 

premise ^^^^ j^g admitted; but necessity 

Demands, avoiding the absurdity 

That evil is of good a cultivation. 

Or good from evil is an emanation. 

"Tis evil felt to have our joys decrease, 
And, in a sense, 'tis evil but to cease 
Of consciousness to be perceptible, 
While hidden and incomprehensible. 



116 SEQUEL TO THE 

" If we, as Buddhists, can ourselves convince 
Of our own theories, why then evince 
A dread of ill, and death, and age forlorn, 
As evils which humanity must mourn?" 

The witness then: 

'Philosophy erects 
An obstacle before it, and expects 
To reason it away, endeavoring 
To win the understanding; carrying 
Conviction that in death but change occurs — 
Transition, and not ill — while life recurs 
Immediate and new; but this belief. 
Incompetent to furnish that relief 
Which heart requires, is insusceptible 
Of any proof or basis sensible, 

"And but accomplishes a resignation 
Which not of joy contains anticipation. 

"While reason's limitations physical 

Debar advance, the antithetical 

Beyond existing, where God dwells unseen, 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 117 



Light [sjo reason knows, nor powers intei-vene 

may 

come That from its regions, closed to reason's ingress, 

from 

luhere A Hglit may be permitted thence to egress, 
source 'of IHuminlng the void, where reason stands 



,/^f Dismayed. 



d-jjells 



"If he who rules within, commands, 
The veil will open, and the knowledge flow. 
To intellects he gave the power to know, 
And evermore desire to understand. 
Enlightenment still craving at his hand. 



" But what today is needed, is to lift 

Religion from the depths obscure, and sift 

From speculations philosophical, 

And pitfalls many, theoretical. 

Which, Protean, assume what form may suit 

The passing argument. 

"in vain refute 
A statement, lo! in other form it shapes, 
And, thus transformed, intangible escapes. 

"Tis facts are needed, which are manifold. 



118 SEQUEL TO THE 

A firm And but awaiting ready champion bold; 

foutida- 

Hon on Who dai'cs announce, arrange, and methodize, 
needlli With truth, will truth forever harmonize. 

for belief 

"While speculation facts that suit selects, 
T is science, leaving theory, elects 
To rest on facts, established and unmoved; 
For facts by facts can never be disproved. 

"The question then arises, If indeed 

A light does from within the veil proceed, 

And been vouchsafed to man, how recognize. 

And where, and how, and when, and why denies 

The keeper, that to all alike created, 

The knowledge should be quick communicated? 



Inter- "Imagination, with no curb or stay, 

prctation 

of the Can soar to any height, or age, or day, 
the'te^i Can revel in the past, the present sketch 
ofreve- q^ j^^j^ ^|^^^ pleases; but to fetch 

lation • i^ 

A fact from out the future, has not dared 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 119 

The most imaginative mind, nor cared 
To risk tlie test of time. 

"Tlie ancient sages 
Turned, for their arguments, back through the 
ages. 

"Confucius, Mencius, or Gautama wise. 
Ne'er entered in this realm, where hidden lies 
The future, and where fact could controvert, 
Or, shown victorious, could the truth assert. 

"Yet this the field where reason hopes to tlnd 
Assurance of a power above the mind, 
Inspiring trust in what, by faith agreed. 
And prompting action, reason must accede. 

"For reason knows the past; the present meas- 
ures; 
But, to its sense, the future's hidden treasures, 
So far beyond its powers to attain. 
Must, lacking aid, forever sealed remain. 

"The wonders which an era could convert. 



120 SEQUEL TO THE 

Alone through human evidence exert 
A further sway, and credibility 
Of witnesses is questioned easily. 

"But that which future time unfolds invites 
Investigation, and the search requites, 
By furnishing complete its refutation, 
Or, in agreement, perfect confirmation; 

"While that which stands the test of prophecy, 
Needs on no other witness to rely. 



"For through each age its warning voice re- 
sounds. 
And in fulfillment caviling confounds. 



^^"' "One sole and only 'Writing' in the world, 

Bible the ■ ^ 

only book This realm has entered, and defiance hurled 
//,„ At time to controvert, and meek appealed 

'^'Ztou "^'^ reason, meeting open in the field, 
fhe With man's ideas in entire accord: 

future 

'Let us together reason, saith the Lord.' 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 121 

" Such gracious invitation to refuse, 

Is less tlian reason. Tliey wIto reason use 

Would seize the opportunity, perchance, 

To tread where, otherwise, were no advance. 

Prophecy "This ancient Writing — sacred held, and shielded 

concern- 
ing Through ages by a nation who have wielded 

a^j^ile Dominion, and in turn decayed and scattered, 
Cr^a/ jl^^jj. pQijj-y destroyed, and kingdom shattered — 
Contains a book revered by friends and foes 
Ere Alexander, called the Great, arose, 
For five half centuries, whose seer foretold 
A silver age, to follow age of gold, 
And brazen to succeed, inaugurate 
By king of Grecia, who should dominate 
And conquer by his arms. 

"The first great king 
Should be all-powerful, but his death should bring 
Disruption, and, divided into four. 
The kingdom should be weaker than before. 

"When Alexander on triumphant way 
Approached Jerusalem, while Tyre lay 



122 SEQUEL TO THE 

In ruins on his path; while devastation 
Had marked his every step, in attestation 
Of all his grandeur, — from the city gate 
Advanced procession strange to contemplate, 
And maiA-'elous to conquering warrior's eyes: 
A cavalcade of priests in peaceful guise. 
With flowing garments white, while at its head 
Jerusalem's high priest his brethren led. 

"A man unto his people long endeared, 

in service aged, whose ample, snowy beard 

Falls o'er his breast, whose features striking add 

To dignity; in robes of office clad. 

In duty to fulfill the obligation 

Of Moses' law, — ere warfare's declaration, 

Or joining battle, that the priest should stand 

To offer peace. 

" He thus the law's command 
Obeyed. Great Alexander, then, with speed 
Alighted, deferential, from his steed, 
On foot approached, and low before him bent 
His lofty, brazen crest, and with him went 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS 123 

Into the city, where The Book unsealed 
His future conquering course, his brazen shield 
And helmet marking age of brass at hand, 
With Grecian empire over Median land. 

" He marched away, and left Jerusalem 
The only city competent to stem 
Destruction's tide, which followed in his track; 
While his astonished army, turning back, 
Asked explanation why he strangely spared 
That oft rebellious city, and why shared 
It not the fate of others? 

"He replied: 
" In Macedonia, ere my arms had tried 
The fortunes dubious of lingering war. 
Or foreign conquest's tyrannous furor 
Possessed me, that high priest in vision rose 
Before my eyes, to prophet-like unclose 
The future; 

" ' His white hair identified 
With priestly robes and manner dignified. 
While saying to me, in a kindly voice, 



124 SEQUEL TO THE 

" Come over here, and conquer, and rejoice.'" 



T^^"' "This ancient book, inspired, had announced 

rise of 

the Per- The Persian Cyrus, and his name pronounced 

siati 

Cyrus Two conturies before his birth, and hailed 
As chosen to rebuild what, unassailed 
And proudly yet unfallen, stood, nor feared 
An enemy which yet had not appeared. 



Therisi' "The iron rule of Rome's twofold division, 

oft/ie 

Roman Its clay and iron fragments, with precision 

Empire 

foretold Are numbered and described; and with persist- 
ence, 
For five and twenty centuries of existence. 
Has witnessed in the world this book prophetic, 
Though often victim of some theoretic 
Interpretation which destroys its strength; 
Yet histoiy, adown its weary length. 
Gives full approval, while the Book incites 
To observation, and the test invites. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 125 



"Tis written in this Book to us confided, 
That of the kingdoms ten, which Rome divided, 
Are three reserved, at some near future day 
To be of Russian bear the lawful prey. 



judah's " For seventeen centuries before the fall 

prosper- 

iiyunto Of David's city, — towers, moat, and wall, 

the time ^, _,. ■ i i r-. 

ofshiioh Or Titus, with the Roman eagles high 

And proud displayed, Jerusalem drew nigh, 
Ere Israel was a nation, it was writ 
In this great Writing, Judah's tribe should sit 
And rule maintain, nor scepter e'er resign 
Till Shiloh should be come to Judah's line. 



The "For fifteen centuries ere Israel 

scatter- 
ing of ^-a^S scattered, and the kingdom final fell, 

forlZd While later prophets oft reiterated 

What had for ages been enunciated, 

Was that most marvelous calamity 

Revealed of Israel's futurity; 



i:6 SEQUEL TO THE 

"And by the self-same voice is farther told, 
That yet the future does for Israel hold 
A joyous gathering again, and rest 
In their own land, to be in peace possessed. 



Degra- "jNjear thirty centuries and four have passed 

(iation 

andridi- Slnce Written records, definite, forecast 

iule of 

Israel That isracl a by-word on the tongue 

Of nations should become, while yet but young, 
The waiting people, with no land acquired. 
At threshold stood of Canaan desired. 

"Who can at Judah's remnant, earnest gaze. 
And not acknowledge the mysterious ways 
Of God, with Judah's people, who, dispersed 
Among the nations, by their prophets cursed. 
Have yet remained a people separated. 
With language and religion unrelated 
To any, while their customs, laws and race 
And features, blighting time cannot efface. 

"That inspiration could alone declare 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 127 

What should befall, and how a race should fare 
Through four and thirty centuries' turmoil 
Of war and peace, captivity and toil. 
While through it, separation prophesied, 
Maintained completely, and by none denied, 
Must be acknowledged, for no human lore 
Could single penetrate the future's store. 

"A solecism, Israel as a nation 

Remains today; if by interrogation 

Of histoiy for parallel inquire, 

The search is vain, and useless the desire. 

" No people conquered and dispersed preserved 

A nationality, or e'er reserved 

A heritage intact, inalienable. 

Save for a purpose fixed, and immutable. 

" Who can discover in an English face 

The Norse, or Saxon, Dane, or Norman race? 

" Barbaric Goths, and Vandals captive led. 
Were Roman ere two generations fled. 



128 SEQUEL TO THE 

Prophecy "^^^^ eq.uallv their own Messiah King, 

concern- " '^ 

ingihe Whose coming, Judah's priests and prophets sing, 

Messia/i 

Whose sacrifice and wounding by his friends, 
And in three days revival, perfect blends 
With its accomplishment, which warning spoke 
For seven hundred years, ere deeds awoke." 

Then said Arjuna, pondering and slow, 

"I have with Christians many talked, although 
None ever made such claims in any way, 
Nor have I heard these things until today." 

The witness then: 

"No! 'tis too sadly true, 
The Chnstians know not what is justly due 
The grandeur of their faith, and, while they cling 
To sacrificial Lamb, forget the King. 

"He is the end, and partial fulfillment 
Of dispensation old, the Blessing sent 
To present grace, the future Gloiy real. 
Which lightning shall to eveiy eye reveal. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 129 



Perfect "Xhe Wi'ltings of the former dispensation, 

agree- 
ment of '\\\Q iiistoiy of Israel's conservation, 

the old 

and new Its Origin and future, liave outlined 
With no essential factor undefined. 



!>!s:s 



"The Writings of the Christian age agree 

in every type, and symbol, or trope. 

With those which went before in time, and season. 

Which is their own foundation, source, and reason. 

"Nor one can stand without the other's aid; 
And truth in each, by other is displayed. 

"While modern systems of Christianity 

May lack not charity or piety, 

They study but miorality, nor know 

The pearls of fact and histoiy, which grow 

A precious chain, as down the stream of time 

The bark of human progress sails sublime. 

In everlasting purpose, fixed its course. 

Though swerving here and there by vaiying force 

Of man's uncertainties, and overlook 

The wondrous fact that Abraham forsook 

His native land, a wanderer became. 



130 SEQUEL TO THE 

Forswore his countiy, called another name; 
By God's command, commission bore to found 
A house and family which should redound 
In blessing to the world; which Abram heard, 
Believed, and treasured, acted at the word. 

Ahra- "Through forty centuries have there and here 

hatnic 

brother- The tldlngs found a sorrowing heart to cheer, 

hood in 

blessing Till now, assembled, all the world appears. 
And of that Abrahamic union hears, 
Which, unto one delivered, was for all 
Whene'er the blessings promised should befall. 

"Again, long ages after, in conclave 
To all the world, though unacknowledged, gave 
Chicago's Parliament, and newly named. 
That gospel, first to Abraham proclaimed, — 
The brotherhood, through Abraham awaited. 
With all earth's families in blessing mated." 



'& 



Arjuna then inquired: 

" Sir, you bring 
Such arguments and facts and reasoning. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 131 

I would desire to ask, and comprehend 
On what foundation sure these claims depend; 
And how he certain that the written word 
Was not recorded after had occurred 
These great events, so strangely in precise 
Agreement with each other, and concise 
In every detail?" 

Then the man replied: 
The "When Ptolemy Philadelphus, in his pride, 

Septua- 

gint Desired in Alexandria to amass 

A wondrous library, which should surpass 
The world beside, ambassadors were sent 
To Judah's royal city, to present 
Request and gain permission to translate 
Their sacred books, so long inviolate 
From foreign eye,— so far beneath their plane, 
Unconsecrated, and believed profane, — 
Into another tongue. 

"Such compliments 
Proclaimed celebrity, and reverence 
By others offered. 



132 SEQUEL TO THE 

"Though the keepers held 
It desecration, yet, by fear impelled. 
Consent bestowed. 

"A Ptolemy destroyed 
Jerusalem before; but now employed 
In peaceful arts, not ample cause to dare 
The tyrant's power, and woes beyond compare. 

"A royal bibliomania, assisted 

By arms, can only be by arms resisted. 

"The Holy Scriptures, heretofore reserved, 
Were now in Greek and Hebrew, both, preserved. 
And ne'er again to Gentile faith denied. 
The sacred books thus doubly testified. 

"Oh, providence of God, to multiply, 
And witnesses to doubting world supply! 

" So, henceforth, censurers could not forget 
That ere Pataliputra's council met. 
In Great Asoka's time, 'twas so renowned 
That in two languages 't was to be found. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 133 

"And down the ages, side by side, unchanged 
For two and twenty centuries, are ranged 
These two editions of the sacred word, 
In tongues antagonistic, never heard 
In unison, save here, unparalleled. 
An enemy, to witness truth compelled. 

Present " While Egypt as a kingdom base remains, 

evidence ,,,-,, i ■ 

for While Tyre s bare rock the fishers nets sustams, 
Prophecy ^yj^jig Babylou, a heap of ruins, lies 
Without inhabitant, so long complies 
The present with the ancient prophecies 
Existing five and twenty centuries." 

Arjuna said: 

"These things, though strange 
and new, 
The evidence you mention marks as true. 

" But why such data never used to show 
Those you deem heathen, who but reverence 

know 
For all the honored past, and dare not test 



13+ SEQUEL TO THE 

The things too recent, thinking old are best?" 

The witness then: 

"You ask a question hard: 
Nor can I say why Christians thus regard 
The faith as needing not support derived 
From undisputed truths, and have contrived 
To so reduce to moral sentiment 
Their whole religion, nor deem pertinent 
Inquiry into facts, nor why defer 
To faith for what the judgment may refer 
To proof immutable, nor why confine 
Their preaching to the heathen to the line 
Of mere morality; but those who seek, 
In love of truth, with gentle spirit meek. 
Will, seeking, find what can to them express 
The cravings of the heart for righteousness. 

"This wonderful Greek version was designed, 
Its keeping to an enemy consigned. 
In blessing to the Gentile world committed. 
And through the multiplying, thus transmitted 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 135 

To early Christians, what, in jealous pride. 
By zealous keepers would have been denied." 

And then Arjuna: 

"Truth and holiness, 
With purity and tender-heartedness. 
By Parsee, Hindoo, Brahman promulgated, 
Confucian, Buddhist, Christian inculcated, 
Mohammedan and Jew indoctrinated — 
From whence arose, by whom communicated, 
Thus universal in the Orient, 
And which, original, to others lent? 

" For that from whence the pure beginnings flow, 
The fountain source must be; the others glow 
But by reflected light; and how descried 
In that antiquity, which must decide?" 

The ready witness, for solution pressed, 
in mild reply Arjuna thus addressed: 

"Tis true, as you with logic well attest, 
Antiquity must answer, or, confessed 



136 SEQUEL TO THE 

As wanting proof, tlie question ever rest, 
Although including eveiy interest 
And destiny of man 

" Impossible 
The To entertain the thought illogical, 

varioics 

systems That vadous sources philosophical, 
\tphy ^^'^^ differing data hypothetical, 
founded j[-|g selfsame system should have formulated, 

on the •' 

same When from the selfsame facts, quite undebated, 

facts 

Of life and being, matter, law, and motion, 
With firm conviction, and entire devotion. 
Such opposite conclusions are conceived 
As these that follow, each by some believed: 

"There is no matter — 'tis but fallacy; 
Or, all is matter — all else fantasy; 

"Yet, still more strange, demanding our attention. 
To be explained, though passing comprehension. 
That all the thought of India asserts. 
And, looking backward, equally reverts 
To still remembered period remote. 
Though in the ages too far lost to quote, — 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 137 

That innocence primeval once existed, 

But man has fallen thence, and has persisted 

In evil ways. 

"Why thus himself accuse.? 
And why did man such privilege abuse? 

"This universal crimination bears 
But one interpretation, and forswears 
All inference from logic, or can trace 
No reason in experience' stern face. 

"All India's reformers testified, - 

What history has fully ratified, 

That, in their time, corruption ruled supreme, 

But through the ages they discerned a gleam 

Of clearer light, and 'twas their aspiration 

To fan it to a flame of reformation; 

" Referring to the prophets of an age. 
Who, long forgotten, yet the time presage, 
And for themselves not claiming exaltation 
Above the humblest; who by contemplation 
Their course of thought and action should pursue, 



138 SEQUEL TO THE 

To whom should equal sovereignty ensue. 
Christ "But Judah's Christ King, lineal descended 

would 

teach hut From David's royal line, and apprehended 
Father's ^y '^^•''^'^ miraculous. the Son divine 
witi Qi QqJ jj^g Father, could but intertwine 

In all his speech, the moral teaching deigned 
From God unto his people, and contained 
In code of law, on stone-engraven plates 
For fifteen centuries. The Son but states 
Again his Father's will, and in discourse 
On Olive's mountain, turned to ancient source 
From whence inspired David drew his theme 
Above ten centuries before. Why deem 
It strange the Son the Father's word confirms. 
And ' Blessed be the meek' anew affirms, 
'For they the earth inherit,' in the time 
When all creation to its former prime 
Shall be restored again, and evils blend 
No more with good, but meet the fore-doomed 
end? 

'The wondrous story of the dealings high 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 139 

jcthro Of Israel's God, when Egypt's despots tiY 

and 

Solomon The people sore, their desert wandering, 

spread 

the The moral law from Sinai thundering, 
"f^^flo all the world were known. 
^'"^''Z That honored man, 

Ood ' 

The princely Jethro, priest of Midian, 
And father-in-the-law of Moses meek. 
Who sole to Moses dared in counsel speak, 
To his own country carried knowledge gained 
Of that true God, whom he from thence main- 
tained 
As God alone. 

"You prince Gautama place 
Six centuries B. C., of royal race. 

" But one account with this so disagrees. 
That for the argument to meet all pleas. 
The most shall be conceded, so the last 
And oldest date demanded shall contrast 
With history, and centuries ten permitted. 
With six and twenty years beside admitted; 

"While if, indeed, Gautama then was born, 



140 SEQUEL TO THE 

Was Judah's Solomon on that bright mom 
Eight years of age. 

"And wiien Gautama wore 
But twelve short summers, Solomon then bore 
The weight of empire; while the world convened 
'To hear,' and of God-given wisdom gleaned, 
That eveiy land and nation might have share 
In Israel's blessing, and his God declare. 

"So India sent gold and jewels rare. 

To deck the temple, far above compare. 

And Hiram, king of Tyre, magnified 

The name of Israel's God, and glorified. 

When prince Gautama numbered fourteen years, 

And long before, 'mid sorrowing and tears, 

He, parting from his state, preferred instead 

A dread ascetic's life, and humbly led. 

While teaching principles to Moses given. 

Five centuries before, from God in heaven. 

"That Moses said, 'The Lord your God shall raise 
From out your brethren,' whose name is praise, 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 141 

'A prophet like to me, and unto Him 
Ye all shall harken.' 

"Through live centuries 
grim 
Had this idea, by the world possessed, 
With expectation furnished eveiy breast. 

"And as we trace the moral law, outspread 
From Sinai's mountain, as its fountain head. 
So, with it, of the prophet to arise, 
The story equal went; with this comprise 
The primal innocence, by India's thought 
Conceded, and through all their writings taught. 
Behold, three witnesses at once appear, 
Which to their origin, with index clear. 
Undoubted point. 

"These three together owe 
One common fount, and from one lineage grow. 

"Together migrating, they testify 
Their parentage, and can disproof defy. 

"The Sanskrit Buddha, turning Westward, leads 



142 SEQUEL TO THE 

For primal root, and in tliis language reads 

Relationslnip to Persian, classical. 

And modern Greek, while other tongues but tell 

Of this, the underlying link, which binds 

The ancient languages and ancient minds; 

Which gives a key to principles the same, 

And indicates the source from whence they came. 

"The Sanskrit 'Dharma' to the Siamese 

Is ' Nature's essence,' and with this agrees 

Another witness. Grecian 'pneuma' holds 

The meaning ' Nama,' — Siamese, — unfolds; 

And in this 'spirit' both bear evidence 

That weaves the thought of two great continents." 

Now spoke Arjuna: 

"Truly, facts evince 
Such testimony as may well convince 
The understanding, and 't is reason's task. 
For reconcilement to sincerely ask. 

"Between Siam and Solomon's Judea, 
Far Eastern Buddh, and Parsee of Media, 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 1« 

Is void impassable, o'er which you leap, 
And leave untouched an adamantine steep, 
Against whose Vedic rocks Buddhism rushed 
in its young vigor, only to be crushed; 

"And now in India, its motherland, 
But few the followers it can command." 

The witness said: 

"Your challenge is but just; 
For that which wins the confidence and trust 
Must be well armed, and, every point defended. 
By highest reason also be commended. 

ivords " Like Tacitus, before the Savior's birth, 
Tacitus Recording that the nations of the earth 
Were looking for a Leader to arise 
From out Judea, and in rule comprise 
A world in empire, so, in words pathetic. 
Convincing, and in eloquence prophetic. 
That great and earnest thinker and professor, 
Max Miiller, logic's able intercessor, 
Most nobly pleads: 



144 SEQUEL TO THE 

"T'nere must be yet conserved 
A 'great and golden dawn of truth' reserved: 
Professor ^j\-^Q^Q jg ^ [^^^^ religjon still behind 

Max * 

Miiiiers Those called religions. Happy who can find 

words 

The sacred truth, in days materialistic, 
And tendencies so wholly atheistic' 

" if now, indeed, a key can be supplied, 
And error shall no more avail to hide 
In stolen garments, but, the truth uncovered, 
Its hidden treasure to all eyes discovered, 

" Supremely honored he to whom referred 
The privilege to open is transferred: 

"And happy they to whom shall be revealed 
That missing link the ages long concealed. 



What "The world of sects is looking for supports 

\e sect. 
are seek 



the sects Q^^ ^j-iich to bulld religion, which comports 



With all of truth, and seeking unity. 
For each alone is weak confessedly. 
And cannot its own influence extend. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 145 

Nor evil's power successfully contend. 

" It is not true tiiat by assimilation, 

In heterogeneous conglomeration, 

Of all beliefs, will truth's configuration 

Be aught unveiled; but by discrimination. 

With careful sifting and investigation, 

That truth shall be achieved as compensation. 

" i^or errors, Protean and numberless. 
To not one grain of truth can give egress. 

" Professor Miiller, learned exponent 
Of Eastern Buddha, to the Occident 
Concise pronounced: 

'"That foreign thought 
invading, 
The teaching of your lordly Buddh pervading. 
Has influenced in aught, no scholar dreams; 
But by its own intrinsic light it beams, 
A daughter, yet more beautiful it glows 
Than Brahman mother ever could disclose.' 

"And yet another scholar's allegation, 



146 SEQUEL TO THE 

In seeming contradiction gives negation; 
For this asserts: 

'"Buddhism, as connected, 
Has, with Christianity, long been suspected.' 

"To prove these true, to toucli the secret spring. 
And reunite the scattered truths which cling 
To eveiy creed, in some degree, has proved 
A marvelous enigma, still unmoved. 

"That India commercially was bound 
With Palestina's sea, the proofs are found. 



Solomon " Jq Solomon the riches of the East 

held in- 
tercourse In ships of Tarshish came; nor had decreased 

India This intercourse in great Asoka's day, 

When seven centuries had passed away, 



Bud- "With whom signed bonds of peace five Grecian 

dliist 
mission- kiUgS; 

aries 

came While, in the ship which gems and treasure 

from , . 

Asoka brings, 

Came Buddhist missionaries by behest, 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. U7 

To share their nobler treasures with the West: 

"And unto Egypt, emissaries, sent, 
Taught Buddhist doctrines from the Orient, 
Soon after Alexander, named the Great, 
Had perished at the zenith of his state. 

"Tis thus revealed that knowledge was endued, 
As now, by earnest seeking long pursued; 

" That wisest men of those forgotten ages, 
For learning traveled, quite like modern sages, 
As Plato and Herodotus, both versed 
In lore and histoiy, the world traversed. 

Bud- " As 'gainst their Roman mother have protested 
adiiid Sectarian daughters many, and contested 
ofBrah- ^j^j^ j^^^ ^^j. gp^pi^g^ 5till by none attained. 

So has Buddhism from the Brahman gained 
Its parentage, and that directly traced 
To earlier era, with no link effaced, 
its ultimatum reaches, when appears 
A name, and mystery in learning's ears. 

"To Media and Persia comes again 



148 SEQUEL TO THE 



^°''''' Ali India's circling thought for origin. 

aster ail o o o 

ancient 

wystc-y '"i-jg action and reaction, end and source,^ 
All Asia compassing within its course, — 



"Where theory meets shipwreck and disaster, 
And founders on the name of Zoroaster. 

"To those philosophers who find solution 
In deeming thought is but an evolution, 
And grows from small beginnings primitive, 
Considering its last derivative 
Superior in eminence to those 
That any earlier eras could unclose, 
The ancient Vedas, to this supposition 
Replying, quite reverse the proposition. 

" For Zoroaster, from where'er derived. 
At many modern standards had arrived. 

While after-ages liave personified 
The elements, and nature deified, 

" He recognized they, by creative will, 
Their proper functions in the cosmos till; 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 149 

"And simple truths became depravity, 
Wliich he delivered in their purity. 

"He of himself can give best evidence 
When error is removed from facts and sense. 

"So early was he in the eons old, 
That, in tradition Persian, is extolled 
The sage from Iran, who o'er Oxus bore 
The fire religion, ere yet Persia wore 
The diadem of empire. 

" in the time 
T^'e Of Moses, when the Canaanitish crime 

tiirbuUnt . . 

eraof Unquestioued had attained its culmmation, 
"'" A season of revolt and agitation. 

With great religious action subsequent. 
The whole of Western Asia underwent. 

" Not passing strange when Canaan expected 
A nation to invade them, which, protected 
By wondrous God, in fire them defending. 
Before whose power and might, all gods tran- 
scending, 



150 SEQUEL TO THE 

The nations trembled, though their gathered 

bands 
Gave opposition armed, nor stayed their liands; 

"The hosts invasion meeting with defiance, 
Or, fearful, offering friendship and alliance. 

" In this abnormal era, turbulent, 

Philosophers have proved it evident 

Must Zoroaster in a neighbor land 

Have lived and taught, and learned to understand 

Deep mysteries, but deemed development 

Of later ages in accomplishment. 

"The thinking worid's religious trend of thought, 

In these, the latter days, inquiring sought 

In amity and brotherhood to bind 

In solid phalanx forces that, combined. 

Must face the growing lawless power presaged. 

Which now is rising, threatening and enraged. 

" So, when unfolded, shows a golden chain 

Which in religious brotherhood again 

Will reunite blood-brothers, long estranged. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. HI 

As once before in troublous times deranged: 

So, after thirty centuries and five, 

Tliese two the covenant anew revive: 

When proud Parsee his mountains wild forsakes, 

And with his wayward Buddhist daughter takes 

The hand of persecuted Israel, 

Whose Christian child with him unites to tell 

Of Abram's God, the awful majesty. 

Omnipotent through all eternity, 

" By proclamation to all nations sent 

From great Chicago's wondrous Parliament." 

Arjuna spoke: 

" Enigmas new your speech 
Before my mind constructs; nor can I reach 
Solution of these mysteries profound. 
As underlaid, and seeming to surround 
All India's thought; and how amalgamate 
Such elements diverse into a state 
Of comity, and partially to blend, 
So each the other e'en can comprehend." 



I?2 SEQUEL TO THE 

Replied the witness: 

" This great Parliament 
The Has demonstrated that, with one consent, 
nu-iii The human heart to God Supreme must turn, 
that, ill And, in Its need, for its Creator yearn. 

men seek 

dcs'H- '"Tis not by reconcilement of the sects, 
^'"^ Nor of their tenets, the desired effects 
Of unanimity will bring redress, 
But by abandonment of narrowness. 



Moses "When Moses fled from roval Pharaoh's hate 

and 

jethro To Midian, he found associate 
Muiia'n And friend, and father by the marriage tie, 
in Jethro, prince and priest of those Magi 
Of whom was Moses taught in Egypt's lore, 
Ere yet his mother's precepts fruitage bore. 

"Of noble nature, and akin by race 

To Moses, Jethro quick extended grace. 

So, henceforth, forty years by Moses led, 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 153 

The flocks of Jethro wandered, watched and fed, 

O'er h'ak's fertile plains and vernal h.ills. 

While Moses into Jethro's mind instills. 

With Egypt's learning astronomical. 

The story of downtrodden Israel, 

And of the Hebrew's God, for whom he dared 

The Pharaoh's enmity, and nothing cared 

For Egypt's state, which by the daughter fair 

Was his inheritance as Pharaoh's heir. 

" So Jethro doubted, but when Moses came 
With hosts of Israel to Horeb's fiame, 
His father there, the princely Jethro, met 
His son-in-law, although by doubts beset. 

"When Sinai's thunders on his ear resounded, 
God spoke from heaven, and the trumpet sounded; 
Then Jethro sacrificed, and sanctified 
The name of Israel's God, and glorified. 

" Confessing, said, 'Assuredly I know 
The Lord is greater than all gods below.' 

"So back to Irak's pastures Jethro went. 



154 SEQUEL TO THE 

jethro ^p j ^q\^ |-|^g wonders from the heavens sent, 

retiiJ'ns 

to Which some believed; and as in time increased 

Midian 

The wanderers of h'ak, in the East 

Of Iran roaming, toward the North progressed, 

Succeeding with tlieir tenets to invest 

The Persian realms, unto the Northern sea, — 

So Jethro on the plams of Araby 

Is Zoroaster, Magian priest and prince, 

'And owning camels old,' as facts convince. 

"And Zoroaster gives concise account 

Of that which Jethro heard at Horeb's Mount: 



Zoro- '"1 journeyed to a burning mountain's side, 

aster's 

descrip- But I escaped; 1 spoke, and God replied; 
the scene I talked uuto the gathered multitude 
atHoreb ^ q^ |s,-ael) there present, and construed 
In counsel to my son, whose God I trust, 
Who is supreme and merciful and just. 



"'With powerful allies I have connection. 
(The hosts of Israel will give protection.) 

" ' I doubted once in Midian, but now 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 155 

1 know, and saw, the God to whom I bow. 

'"As in the faith 1 triumphed, so I wait 

That glorious kingdom from the heavenly state, 

Which shall come speedily. 

'"Two brothers dwell. 
And rule the hosts ofwanderiiig Israel : 
y4aron and Moses, in the Hebreii> famed, 
Are Frashaoshtra and Jamaspa named 
hi Midian tongue, to me in close relation 
By marriage bound, and of a kindred nation. 

"'The one is minister of God the King 
Above all gods, whose praises ever sing 
Our voices, when Ahura we proclaim. 
And Mazdao, 'The Wise,' for aye the same; 

" 'Who is but One, with holy ones attending. 
And fire, as his ally, him defending. 

'"To Him I offer sacrifice and prayer, 
And trust the future to His guardian care. 

■'"He gives all good; from Him salvation grows. 



156 SEQUEL TO THE 

To but one author man all evil owes, 

'"Who enters in the world of God, invading, 
Corrupting earth, and man himself degrading; 

'"But when the time appointed shall arrive. 
No longer may man's misery contrive, 

'"But be with hell forevermore destroyed, 
And man in evil ne'er again employed, 
While everlasting happiness enjoyed 
O'er all the earth, complete and unalloyed; 

" 'The broken chains of death, no more the dread 
Of all the ages, risen from the dead.' 

The "Thus Jethro, now as Zoroaster styled, 

spreadof 

jeihros Gave truth unto his people in the wild 
>c igion ^^ i^-ji^'g fastnesses, from whence, subverted, 
All Bactria and Persia were converted. 

"So from the Oxus vale, o'er Asia swelled 
A wave of knowledge of the true God, held 
And underlying all of Asian thought 
Which Zoroaster from Mount Sinai brought; 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 157 

"Who taught in Iran, who was founder called 
Of Magian art, which all the world enthralled 
With reverence of the stars; 

" Of Aiyan priests 
The first; who taught the sacrifice of beasts; 
Who heard and worshiped at the mount of flame; 
Whose followers the after-ages blame 
For quite forgetting God in adoration. 
And to His symbol giving veneration. 



Simitar "ys^g Moscs to the Hcbrews, so by hands 

laws 

given Of Zoroaster came the same commands. 

by Moses 
and 

zoroas- " The hlstoiy of Noah, and the tree 

ter 

Containing gifts of immortality, 



" Its fearful guardians, and fall of man 
From state of innocence primordian, 

" Have each transmitted to posterity. 
With single heart, and in simplicity. 

"By both the marriage nte is clear defined; 
Each to its own religion is confined; 



158 SEQUEL TO THE 

"While man and woman, equal, proudly stand. 
And side by side obey the law's demand; 

"In sanitaiy regulations made 
Equivalent, the selfsame care displayed. 

"By both the sacred emblem, tire, preseived 
In synagogue and fire temple, sei-ved 
By zealous priests, are evidence today. 
While each a kingdom and a Savior pray 
To come to judgment, and the earth restore 
To what it was in long-lost days of yore. 

Parai- "The Hebrews, 'mong the nations of the West, 

ids be- 

tween Accumulating riches, though oppressed, 
'Znd Maintaining their religion, laws divine, 
Parsces ^^^ pedigree in one unbroken line, 

Are witness, as their brothers in the East, 
Whose ancient empire equal has decreased, 

"Whose pride of blood, no other parallel 
The world can furnish, but in Israel. 

"The children of the Midian prince and sage, 
The priestly Jethro, rich in eveiy age. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 159 

"With rigid care their customs all retain, 
Their ancient race in purity maintain, 

"And 'mong the Hindoo millions situate, 
An island stand, apart and isolate; 

"While down the ages Hindoo thought availed 
No more with them, than Europe has prevailed 
Upon the Hebrew people." 

Questioned now 
Arjuna: 

"You the tie of blood allow; 
Relation- gut how derived, and what the argument 

ship ex- 
pounded That can support? Methinks the testament, 

mbrew As needing no uncertain evidence, 

Parst ^^"^ stand alone with innate confidence," 

The witness said: 

"The facts to you must speak 
In unmistaken tones. When Moses meek. 
To Midian for refuge turned in dread, 



160 SEQUEL TO THE 

He knew the nation unto whom he fled 
Would have for Israel a friendly will, 
And, pitying, a kindred's part fulfill. 

" Four hundred years before, in Canaan, 
To Abraham a son, named Midian, 
Was of Ketura born, his Kenite mate; 
And Abrahamic blood would advocate 
A brother's cause, 

"As through the line direct. 
With Abraham two covenants connect 
The Christian's hope; and while, through that 

derived. 
The Holy Bible has to him arrived. 
The gospel of the kingdom publishing. 
So in these latter days of questioning 
Its inspiration, e'en by friends pretended. 
By other witness are its claims defended. 

"Through unexpected line, long separated. 
Diverse and independent, are collated, 
From other tongue, the story of the king. 
And knowledge of the kingdom which shall bring 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 161 

Again to earth the peace so long desired, 

For which the Christian, in the prayer inspired. 

Should hourly pray. 

"As proud the Hebrew race 
Denied to Gentiles any meed of grace, 
So has the Christian world itself conceived 
The keeper sole of every truth achieved; 

" But learned at second Pentecostal day, 
In fair Chicago's Parliament, to say 
What that first Pentecost revealed of old, — 
The love of God can eveiy tongue infold. 

"And Zoroaster understood, believed 

That coming kingdom, which, not yet received. 

Is still the Christian's hope. 

"If India turns 
Where Zoroaster's fieiy mountain burns. 
Her ears will hear the words which Christians 

true 
Should, as a loving message, speak anew." 

Mugata then suggestion interposed: 



162 SEQUEL TO THE 

China " You have in argument complete disposed 

claims 

gn-atcr Of Buddhlst claims, and laid a firm foundation 

antiquity 

Of histoiy and fact for your narration; 

" But our Confucius from still earlier source 
Drew inspiration for his wise discourse. 

"The famous Yao, as our annals note, 
Whom Mencius and Confucius ever quote. 
Gave counsel unto Shun, in days gone by. 
More ancient far than those you specify." 

The witness, mild and gentle, quick replied: 



China "Mugata, you, unknowing, now provide 

comes to . . , , , , , , i 

confirm A trcnchaut weapon that 1 shall employ, 
the truth jj_|Q^g|^ \)s\x\% not your records to destroy, 
But to defend, and prove in strict accord. 
As showing how the wisdom of the Lord 
In every nation kept some truth alive. 
Which, in the time appointed, should revive 
And come to fruitage; else how e'er explain 
That Hebrew and Chinese alike retain, 
In cherished records, stories told with pride, 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 163 

Of honored ancestors with heaven allied? 

"And links of truth appear no more forbid 
The light of day, though long in ages hid. 

"The Chinese annals furnish jewels five, 
Unset and rough, whose value must derive 

" And be enhanced by polishing and place 
Within the golden chains which interlace 
All human histoiy; so, when beside 
The Hebrew chronicle in test applied, 
As diamonds each in independence shine. 
Yet when their powers in brilliancy combine. 
Each must the other's radiance augment 
By mutual reflections incident. 

"The Chinese annals, in authentication. 
The Hebrew witness in asseveration. 

"Two names they give, and, furnishing a date. 
The statement of a fact corroborate — 
A fact too wonderful to credence earn. 
Were not the source unquestioned whence we 
learn; 



164 SEQUEL TO THE 

"With counsel wise, contributing a key 
Wliich, careful used, unlocks the mystery 
Of their own origin, and loud declares 
The bond of blood, that every nation shares. 

vun, or. " Pq^,- thousand vears, and vet two hundred more, 
coimse/s With forty added unto half a score, 

S/iU)i, or 

shem Ere yet in Parliament the world, invited. 
Assembled, and in brotherhood united, 
Your records venerable represent. 
With no superfluous embellishment. 
That Shun, or Shem, to Yao counsel owed, 
While generations nine in peace abode. 
Within one dwelling sheltered. 



'Jrj 



"So agree 
*see The Hebrew Scriptures: One half centuiy. 

Appen- 
dix, With two and forty centuries appended. 

Ere this great Congress of Religions ended. 



"When Noah, — Yao, — preaching righteousness. 
The birthright gave to Shem in bounteousness. 
With counselings and precepts for his need. 
While nine full generations of his seed 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 165 

Rewarded Noe's age, and in his sight 
Grew up to man's prerogatives and might. 

"The sixth in generation gave the sign 
Of severation from the parent vine, 
Which then began. 

"The sons of Ham descended 
To Africa, where still traditions blended 
With marvels multitudinous recall 
Their coming from the regions Boreal, 

"While Eastward Japheth's families withdrew, 
To China's realms, yet left behind a few. 
Who followed in the ninth. 

"More slowly moving, 
The shepherd princes, — Mencius, approving, 
' Pastors of men' denominates, — who brought 
The useful flax, its cultivation taught. 
And weaving. With the green mulberry tree 
The silkworm introduced, what prodigy 
That, adding knowledge of astronomy. 
The later comers gained ascendency. 



166 SEQUEL TO THE 

"Yet not complete the brothers' separation; 
And Abraham, the tenth in generation, 
His brethren recognized. 

" To Noah given 
A covenant of safety from the heaven, 
His seed including; doubly thus united 
By tie of blood, and promise that affrighted 
No more the race should dwell, nor flood appall. 
And ne'er again the earth a curse befall. 



*t>'- 



Gods "So, unto Abraham, in covenant 

two cov- 
enants of Of promised blessing, whose accomplishment 

and The whole creation should in fullness share, 

^^m-'ss While many nations should the future bear 

Of Abrahamic blood, in promise sealed 

To faithful Abraham, on Mamre's field, 

Was every son of Noah comprehended; 

And through a mother from each line descended, 

A strain of blood imparted was designed 

The brotherhood in antitype to bind. 

Three 
lines of 

Abra- "Of Shem was Sarah, wife to Abraham; 

hainic 

blood Egyptian Hagar, daughter unto Ham; 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 167 

Kenite Ketura came of Japheth's line. 
So 'all the seed' in Abraham entwine. 



*sec- " ji-,g Ql^^Qy son of Noah, Ham rejected, 

dix, The birthright lost; his brother Shem selected. 

Note E 

The second son received. 

" By this relation 
That ancient counsel gains interpretation 
Which Yao gave to Shun: 

"Hold fast sincerely 
Unto the mean,' may be supposed as clearly 
The middle line of Shem as indicating, 
Through which the truth, preseived, illuminating 
The ages dimly, should at last ablaze, 
Extremes unite in polyphonic praise." 

Arjuna questioned: 

"Ancient Egypt knew 
The A cultivation yet surpassed by few: 

influence 
of Egypt 

on Israel " A modlcum of truth its learning treasured, 

Though by the light of latest research measured; 



168 SEQUEL TO THE 

"And thinkers many, of your language, say 
That when the captive Israel broke away 
From Egypt's heavy bondage, and emerged 
To nationality, their tenets verged 
Upon Egyptian thought; 

"Where they abode 
In safe asylum, their belief they owed?" 

The witness said: 

" More strange if had existed 
A total difference, which change resisted 
Through years of intimate association; 
But why on Israel the obligation 
To borrow Egypt's thought? and why suppose 
More influence from one than other flows? 

"They who so argue build a theoiy, 
With no foundation laid in history. 

" Four centuries before, to Abraham 

Had God revealed, and named Him.self 1 AM. 

"When Joseph came to Egypt as a slave, 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 169 



Joseph Foretold the famine and the means to save, 

bycught 

the The Pharaoh made him second in the land, 

knowl- 
edge of kwdi placed his signet ring on Joseph's hand. 

Cod ijtto 
Egypt 

"The God of Abraham and Joseph blessed 
The grateful land, and Egypt him confessed. 



" But when arose a king in after years 
Who knew not Joseph, Abram's God appears, 
Inspiring Moses, who for Israel pleads, 
And from Egyptian bonds triumphant leads. 

"So through four centuries had Egypt bent 

To NUKPU NUK — I Am— in reverent 

And humble worship; and of Israel 

Had Egypt learned religion's ritual; 

While they to Amen Ra, — in Egypt's tongue, — 

The Great Creator, equal praises sung, 

The Hebrew nation, jealous, but adhered 

And loved the God whom Abraham revered." 

Arjuna, wondering, exclaimed anew: 

"The facts speak bold; the arguments are true. 



170 SEQUEL TO THE 

Dissen- " | .^^ aiTiazed that Christians disagree 

siojis 

bring Among themselves, with such a history 

ruin 

To lay foundation in the distant past, 
And by the Book the future to forecast. 

"The sects among them, each in rivalry 
Is struggling for its own supremacy. 

" in India our numerous dissensions 
Have been our ruin; so may such contentions 
Destroy the Christian power and influence, 
And lawlessness arise in arrogance." 

Then said the man: 

"The future you portend 
Is logical, and but dissensions end. 

"Though truth will incorruptible endure, 
Yet error's veil endeavors to obscure; 

"As imitations surely indicate 

A something real, which they but vindicate. 

"The Church had birth at living fountain's brink; 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 171 

The Greeks but from the stream attained to drink; 

The Romans scarce unto the pool arrived; 

While modern sects a portion have derived; 

And each a little channel excavates, 

Which eveiy other brother alienates, 

Yet claims the mighty stream of Truth, enchained. 

Within its narrow limits is contained. 

"The Older Scriptures, by the New sustained, 
Foretell a time of trouble yet ordained. 
Which shall the latter days of earth betide: 
The Lawless One shall order override, 
And, prospering a season, yet shall meet 
Destruction sudden, and downfall complete, 
By coming of the Kingdom and The King, 
Who with Him legions of the saints shall bring." 

Asked now Arjuna: 

"What mysterious dream, 
Ques- Of prayer and sermon such a constant theme, 

Honing 

of the Is this strange kingdom, whose far hope you 

kingdom ' , , 

traced 
Through Zoroaster, — Jethro, — not effaced 



172 SEQUEL TO THE 

From hope's fair treasury unto this day, 
Since Moses fled from Egypt's bonds away?" 

The witness now: 

"To Adam, at the fall. 
First A future victoiy o'er evil's thrall, 

promise 

oj a res- Its head dcstroyed, the race triumphant freed, 
ora ton^ Foreshadowed dimly, through the woman's Seed, 
domtnwn jj-, gpj(;ious promlse, since their innocence 
But victim fell to that intelligence 
Above their own; so, far the greater blame 
Upon the plotter and the tempter came, 

"And evil, punished in its root and head. 
Gives mercy place to pay the debt instead. . 

"To Abraham a promised Seed announced. 
And future blessing once again pronounced, 
With heirship of the world, in Adam lost; 
For sin, dominion of a world had cost. 

"To David yet again a Son assured, 

A kingdom promised, and to him secured 

By God, oath-bound, who by Himself hath sworn^ 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 173 

In David's sight, wino Judafi's crown Inatln worn, 
Shall be established, and in righteousness 
Forever rule the earth in holiness. 

" in Jesus Christ this Son was manifested, 
And of the woman — virgin — born; invested 
Before his birth with heirship of the line 
Of David's kingdom, by command divine; 

" His one confession, when proud Pilate sued 
'Art thou then Christ, a king?' again renewed 
His frequent teaching: 

'" Born unto this end. 
And in the world, I for this cause descend.' 

"His twofold mission — to undo the ill, 
And then restore — two comings will fulfill : 

"The first for penalty gave compensation; 
The second blesses with a restoration. 

H'oman's 

mission "Through woman's agency, by sin deceived, 

lo be the 

agent of E'MtViS troubles came, and death mankind hath 

restora- 

Hon grieved; 



174 SEQUEL TO THE 

"So through the woman's Holy Seed conceived, 
By earth again shall Eden be received. 

'They who inquire, and question miracle, 
Forgetting reason, are not logical. 

"The mysteiy and miracle of life; 

Of sleep, and death, where mysteiy is rife; 

"Of childhood, which to manhood shall ascend; 
Which human art can hinder not, nor lend 
A hand to help; of man the tlrst-create, — 
All these, confronting reason, correlate 
To miracle and marvel. 

"To achieve 
The miracle which reason must believe, — 
Of man and woman's first origination 
By power of God, — is but an attestation 
Of what is seen. 

"'Tis lesser miracle. 
That of a chosen mother virginal. 
Has God created One of sinless mold, 
Who in redemption shall the world enfold. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 175 

iv/i^r^ "As nineteen centuries ago was asked 

t's the 

promise A Question, which the lack of faitii unmasked, 

of His 

coming? So yet demanded: 'Where is promise found 
Of this His coming? Evils yet abound, 
And since the fathers fell on sleep profound, 
No change occurs, no wakening trumpets sound.' 

" What Abraham and Moses yet await. 
May man with certain hope anticipate. 

"All Christians know that Christ shall come to 

reign; 
No Christian writers from this theme refrain. 

"The greatest poetry of Christian song 
Depicts its blessings, and the end of wrong. 

"Within all thought the idea embraced. 
Results in constant efforts to foretaste 
its benefits; while theories arise 
On eveiy hand, each claiming that the prize 
Of human happiness, the certain right 
Of all mankind, is just within their sight. 

" Obey their words, and then at once shall come 



176 SEQUEL TO THE 

The long-awaited, earth's millennium. 

" Yet could they not control the blasting storm, 
Nor powers of nature would to them conform. 

Bless- "The pestilence that in the darkness walks, 

ings of 

the king- Destruction wasting that at noonday stalks. 

The burning heat, and withering cold's pervasion, 
Destroying drought, o'erwhelming floods' inva- 
sion. 
Alternately would still the earth afflict; 
Yet these shall that millennium restrict, 

"And all extremes in nature tempered be, 
While man, obedient, lives as lives the tree." 

Arjuna said: 

"These things necessitate 
Interposition, and immediate 
Activity, of Him who dwells on high. 
In minor matters far beneath His eye. 
Who rules the universe, and will not stay 
Or change the laws the elements obey; 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 177 

God " Which through eternity forever keep 

above the 

lawsHe Their circling course in an unbroken sweep. 

makes 

" For as we argue, this is our assumption, 
Observing nature, which affords presumption." 

Replied the witness: 

" He who promulgates 
A law, and order by His will instates, 
The Universal Maker and Creator, 
Is than creation infinitely greater. 

" No law immutable before Him dwells, 
Who at His will their influence dispels. 
Else yet a power above Himself remains, — 
Which logic mocks, nor reason entertains. 

"Shall man a wonderful machine invent. 
And yet the imputation not resent, 
That he its powers cannot estimate, 
Its energies employ, nor use dictate, 
To sei've his purpose? 

"Why with insolence 



178 SEQUEL TO THE 

So thus accuse divine Intelligence? 

" Shall He who in His wisdom formed the eye, 
All nature's beauties to Himself deny? 

"Shall He who planted and hath tuned the ear, 
The music of the spheres Himself not hear? 

"Shall He who giveth knowledge here below. 
His own creation's wonders yet not know; 

"And, knowing, intervene to regulate. 
And to His sovereign purpose consecrate? 

" But playthings in the hands of time are nations; 
As history moves on, events are stations, 
But marking points in one stupendous plan 
Involving worlds, and destiny of man; 

" Yet in the universe, no thing so small 
Escapes the eye that notes the sparrow's fall." 

Then said Arjuna: 

"There is best foundation 
For reason upon facts, than meditation 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 179 

^''''' Evolving from within can fabricate, 

proper 

cause WhiciT 00 two minds alike elucidate. 

for 
reason . . , 

" For if 1 think a thing, and argue from it. 
The fact is only, that I thought upon it. 

"This nothing proves, unless that truth, elusive, 
Beyond the ken of man yet flies delusive. 
And, never reached, yet many phases shows. 
Nor will itself in unity disclose. 

"Thus truth evades the reason deified, 
When by the jury of the facts 'tis tried." 

"Most true," the witness said: 

"What reason can, 
It has accomplished for unhappy man; 

" Confessing without remedy, yet weaving 

The threads of 'Love and Life' with death and 

grieving, 
'The shuttles of its loom.' 

"Association 
Of passing strangeness, mingling of duration 



180 SEQUEL rO THE 

With end, and love and life with misery, 
In endless treadmill of theosophy, 

" By paradoxy named 'cyclic progression,' 
The circle rounding, while no intercession 
Inexorable fate can ever move; 
Progression in a circle, who can prove?" 

ArJLina answered: 

"All my firm convictions. 
The inward growth of years, these contradictions 
Profoundly shake; a larger hope expanding 
Within me, thus a broader field demanding. 
With sure foundation, and the heights attaining 
Which reason never e'en aspired to gaining. 

" But, for this union that the Christian prays, 
Of blessed brotherhood in future days. 

In Messianic kingdom, as 1 learn. 

Both Jew and Christian but one hope discern?" 

The witness sad replied: 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 181 

" You penetrate 
The veiy midst, by reason's power elate; 
And with it, touching, like Ithuriel, 
The mystery of outcast Israel 
At once reveals; for partial blindness sears 
The heart of Judah till his King appears; 
That universal brotherhood, announced. 
May be to Gentiles they in pride denounced. 

" The Parliament has this inaugurated, 

And prophecy's fulfillment initiated. 

"Who now, anointed in Christ Jesus' name, 
The gospel of the kingdom will proclaim?" 

The friends sat musing on this strange new light. 
Meanwhile the ship sped on into the night. 



APPENDIX 



Note A. 

Line 2, page 124. 

In all cases where dates are given the nearest 

centuiy has been named, to meet the exigencies 

of versification, as greater accuracy would have 

been cumbersome. 

Note B. 
Line 15, page 149. 
Abraham was given the land of Canaan before 
it had been occupied by any people, at the time 
when the earth was in process of division among 
the families of Noe; so that when his descend- 
ants under Moses conquered it, they were merely 
repossessing what was their own inalienable in- 
heritance. 

Note C. 
Line 4, page 163. 
The Chinese record of 2256 B. C, in the time 



184 SEQUEL TO THE 

of Yao ( who was undoubtedly Noe ), which has 
generally been supposed to be the date of the 
deluge, cannot be reconciled with any other 
account of that occurrence. 

At the time to which the Chinese recorded 
date refers, nine generations lived in peace in one 
house, which was not true of the era of the del- 
uge, but was true of the later years of Noe's life 
in the days when the earth was divided and the 
families began to separate. This was during the 
lifetime of Peleg, and the date of his birth as pre- 
served by the Hebrews is 2247 B. C, differing 
very little from the Chinese date of 2256 B. C. 
Thus by both records are the two facts of the 
chronological era and the longevity of those 
times carefully treasured, as well as the names of 
Noe, or Yao, and his counsel to Shem, or Shun, 
the son chosen to inherit the birthright, which, 
with parting counsel, would naturally be given 
only at the close of Noe's life. 

With this mark of the days of division in the 
time of Peleg, the beginning of the Hindoo era of 
the Kali Yug, 3101 B. C, and the Septuagint date 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 185 

for the deluge, about 3000 B. C, agree as well as 
it may be supposed two independent accounts 
could do under the circumstances, and in those 
uncertain ages of dispersion. 

Such approximations can only be explained 
by the knowledge of measuring the passage of 
time by astronomical phenomena, which Noe gave 
to his sons, the records of which fact remain. 

Note D. 
Line 15, page 164. 
The Hebrew chronology has been in this case 
corrected by the Septuagint numbers, which 
agree better with other records and avoid the 
evident incongruity that Noe lived till Abraham 
was nearly sixty years of age. 

Note E. 
Line 3, page 167. 
Shem has always been considered as the eld- 
est son of Noe, and he is called the elder brother 
of Japheth. 



186 SEQUEL TO THE 

But in one instance, wlien Noe "knew what 
liis younger son had done unto him," the act 
wliich the younger son had done was really to 
cover his father without looking upon his state. 

This filial act of Shem, the younger son, was 
the cause of his inheritance of the birthright and 
the rejection of Ham, the elder son, who was rep- 
resented at that time as already the father of a 
family, and who refrained from an act of helpful- 
ness and showed a light disposition. 

Afterwards the elder son of Abraham, who was 
also of the blood of Ham, was equally rejected for 
levity, and the second son, from a mother of the 
line of Shem, was given the birthright. 



PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. 187 



THE CHART 

FRONTISPIECE 

The chart prefixed to this volume shows in a 
simple form the genealogy of religious thought 
as developed in these pages, and also will explain 
the figure on the cover. 

It veiy clearly evidences the brotherhood of 
man in the two covenants of Noe and Abraham, 
under a signature of blood in both cases. 

The identification of Zoroaster as Jethro is so 
striking and complete that it seems to solve deep 
and numerous mysteries; and in these latter days, 
when so many minds are seeking truth, it will 
demonstrate the absolute unity of all Truth. 



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